COVID-19 recovery and the global urban poor

COVID-19 has magnified the deficiencies of how we manage our cities while giving us a unique chance to re-envision these, particularly in the global South. We argue that pandemic-resilient cities require rental-housing stocks and highly accessible urban environments, financed by land value capture.

Pandemic, War, and Global Energy Transitions

The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war on Ukraine have impacted the global economy, including the energy sector. The pandemic caused drastic fluctuations in energy demand, oil price shocks, disruptions in energy supply chains, and hampered energy investments, while the war left the world with energy price hikes and energy security challenges. The long-term impacts of these crises on low-carbon energy transitions and mitigation of climate change are still uncertain but are slowly emerging. This paper analyzes the impacts throughout the energy system, including upstream fuel supply, renewable energy investments, demand for energy services, and implications for energy equity, by reviewing recent studies and consulting experts in the field. We find that both crises initially appeared as opportunities for low-carbon energy transitions: the pandemic by showing the extent of lifestyle and behavioral change in a short period and the role of science-based policy advice, and the war by highlighting the need for greater energy diversification and reliance on local, renewable energy sources. However, the early evidence suggests that policymaking worldwide is focused on short-term, seemingly quicker solutions, such as supporting the incumbent energy industry in the post-pandemic era to save the economy and looking for new fossil fuel supply routes for enhancing energy security following the war. As such, the fossil fuel industry may emerge even stronger after these energy crises creating new lock-ins. This implies that the public sentiment against dependency on fossil fuels may end as a lost opportunity to translate into actions toward climate-friendly energy transitions, without ambitious plans for phasing out such fuels altogether. We propose policy recommendations to overcome these challenges toward achieving resilient and sustainable energy systems, mostly driven by energy services.

Combining economic recovery with climate change mitigation: A global evaluation of financial instruments

Although some countries are gradually returning to production and life, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world, further motivating recovery policies. Using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, this study evaluates the environmental and economic impacts of COVID-19 on the world, both today and in the longer term. This study explores the post-pandemic impacts conditional on varied fiscal policies (including forgone revenue and additional spending) and their combination with a carbon tax. This study finds that the pandemic shocks in 2020 slowed regional economies worldwide, and a continued pandemic in 2021 will further stymie economic activity. Among the government’s recovery policies, indirect tax reduction has the best positive stimulus to regional economies;however, it is not conducive to low-carbon energy development and will also lead to an increase in CO2 and pollutant emissions. A post-pandemic green recovery plan could prioritize replacing indirect production taxes with taxes on GHG emissions, which would both improve economic turnover metrics and reduce environmental emissions in 2021. In the long run, this tax shift will not only minimize the economic damage to the global economy but also help governments around the world to get back on track in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Leverage points for accelerating adoption of shared electric cars: Perceived benefits and environmental impact of NEVs

New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), and especially electric cars, are rapidly changing the outlook of the car industry in China, the largest vehicle market in the world. However, an adjustment in subsidy schemes and breakout of COVID-19 appear to slow down the uptake of NEVs in the Chinese market. This raises the question of whether, other less costly, policy instruments can help the transformation towards cleaner vehicles. With the understanding that public support and user acceptance play a key role, we ask whether NEVs as part of increasingly popular car-sharing mode can gain further support, the increased uptake of new energy vehicles. To investigate this question, we perform an online survey, retrieving 1583 questionnaires, and scrutinize the perception of NEVs at the nexus with car-sharing. Relying on the Theory of Planned Behavior and ordered logistic regression model, we demonstrate that attitudes towards environmental protection and perceived benefits (economic and safety) play a key role in accelerating the adoption of shared electric cars. NEVs promotion policies need to specifically target groups by regions. Municipal agencies can substantially support NEV uptake by providing on-street parking exclusively for shared NEVs in cities, and information on the economic and social benefits of NEVs in rural areas.

Lifestyle, psychological, socioeconomic and environmental factors and their impact on hypertension during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

SUMMARY: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic considerably affects health, wellbeing, social, economic and other aspects of daily life. The impact of COVID-19 on blood pressure (BP) control and hypertension remains insufficiently explored. We therefore provide a comprehensive review of the potential changes in lifestyle factors and behaviours as well as environmental changes likely to influence BP control and cardiovascular risk during the pandemic. This includes the impact on physical activity, dietary patterns, alcohol consumption and the resulting consequences, for example increases in body weight. Other risk factors for increases in BP and cardiovascular risk such as smoking, emotional/psychologic stress, changes in sleep patterns and diurnal rhythms may also exhibit significant changes in addition to novel factors such as air pollution and environmental noise. We also highlight potential preventive measures to improve BP control because hypertension is the leading preventable risk factor for worldwide health during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19-induced low power demand and market forces starkly reduce CO₂ emissions

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to strongly affect global energy systems. Global power sector CO2 emissions have shown a substantial decline, thanks to (a) the COVID-19-induced economic downturn and resulting reduction of electricity demand and (b) a decrease of carbon intensity of power generation as coal generation is decreased most strongly. These effects illustrate the opportunity for different policies to support a structural and accelerating decline of power sector emissions.The societal response to the pandemic has reduced global power demand, disproportionally affecting coal power generation and thus leading to a strong CO2 emissions decline. Policy should apply 2020’s lessons to ensure that power sector emissions have peaked in 2018 and go into structural decline.