What next? Leveraging a new global crisis to mitigate an older one: opportunities and challenges in Romania and Britain

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 global health crisis has required direct governmental intervention in both social and economic spheres on a scale not seen in recent times in most European countries. Whereas the positive environmental gains made during the height of the so-called ‘lockdown’ response imposed by governments are likely to be short lived, the experience has demonstrated that amid an almost universally acknowledged immediate crisis, government intervention, substantial policy change and public opinion can all be mobilized for positive benefit. Given their limited record to date, both Romania and the UK have some way to go to enhance their efforts in combating the environmental crisis. The question for the sustainable transitions literature and wider advocates of sustainability is what could be done to mobilize a similar political and governmental response to the environmental crisis. © 2021 Regional Studies Association.