Social inequalities have been exposed and rapidly exacerbated by the massive but uneven loss of employment, with the equivalent of more than 300 million jobs potentially at risk (ILO, 2020). The precariousness of long and complex global value chains has been revealed, with many countries struggling to acquire medical and other strategic supplies. More broadly, the speed and depth of the economic crisis have shown that a core principle of the global economy – prioritising short-term economic growth and efficiency over long-term resilience – can have huge societal costs. Global interconnectedness has helped to create huge economic and social benefits for decades, albeit unequally, but also facilitated the rapid spread of the pandemic. In addition to the immediate human suffering caused by the disease itself and the loss of livelihoods for millions, the COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted several key vulnerabilities of our societies and economic system. Other OECD policy briefs examine the role of environmental health in strengthening resilience to pandemics (OECD, 2020) and COVID-19 and the low-carbon transition (OECD, forthcoming).Ī more resilient economy depends on a shift to sustainable practicesĢ. At the heart of this approach is the transition to more inclusive, more resilient societies with net-zero GHG emissions and much reduced impacts on nature. This means triggering investments and societal changes that will both reduce the likelihood of future shocks and improve our resilience to those shocks when they do occur, whether from disease or environmental degradation. not only getting economies and livelihoods back on their feet quickly, but also safeguarding prosperity for the longer term. This policy brief examines how these stimulus packages can create a recovery that “builds back better”, i.e. As the health crisis gradually abates in some countries, attention is now turning to preparing stimulus measures for triggering economic recovery. Governments’ first priorities in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic have been to overcome the health emergency and to implement rapid economic rescue measures, the latter mostly aimed at providing essential liquidity and protecting livelihoods in the face of abrupt losses of income. In practice, well-designed recovery policies can cover several of these dimensions at once, such as catalysing the shift towards accessibility-based mobility systems, and investing in low-carbon and decentralised electricity systems.ġ. Other key dimensions for assessing whether recovery packages can “build back better” include alignment with long-term emission reduction goals, factoring in resilience to climate impacts, slowing biodiversity loss and increasing circularity of supply chains. Central to this approach is a focus on well-being and inclusiveness. Recovery policies also need to trigger investment and behavioural changes that will reduce the likelihood of future shocks and increase society’s resilience to them when they do occur. This means doing more than getting economies and livelihoods quickly back on their feet. To avoid this, economic recovery packages should be designed to “build back better”. Unchecked, global environmental emergencies such as climate change and biodiversity loss could cause social and economic damages far larger than those caused by COVID-19. For the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis to be durable and resilient, a return to ‘business as usual’ and environmentally destructive investment patterns and activities must be avoided.
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