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Climate Change, COVID 19 &
How do we Build Back Better?
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Over the last 4 months, COVID-19 lockdowns around the world have dramatically cut climate change emissions. Daily carbon emissions plunged 17% by early April compared with 2019 levels, according to the first definitive study of global carbon output this year.
The findings show the world has experienced the sharpest drop in carbon output since records began, with large sections of the global economy brought to a near standstill. When the lockdown was at its most stringent, in some countries emissions fell by just over a quarter (26%) on average. In the UK, the decline was about 31%, while in Australia emissions fell 28.3% for a period during April.
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Our desire to stay safe has also been instrumental in some dramatic mass behaviour changes. Before the crisis, we accepted the dominance of traffic noise as an inevitable consequence of city living. We raced from one thing to the next, assuming that it was impossible to reduce the level of our local and international travel. We were too busy to take stock of our consumption and often had a poor awareness of our unnecessary waste.
Now, we have sampled a much more tranquil urban ambience. We have had imposed travel restrictions - and often managed to still work effectively and socialise, albeit remotely. We had a moment to take stock, and to focus on what’s truly important.
Numerous studies - like the graph below - have shown that the vast majority of us now believe that climate change is as serious as coronavirus. It is clear that Future Planet's long held position is becoming increasingly mainstream.
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The significant disruption in our routines caused by the pandemic may present an opportunity for us to move to a more sustainable lifestyle. Indeed, what opportunities has this crisis revealed for how we can reduce congestion and pollution, and make our cities healthier and more sustainable for the future? Our Advisory Board Member, founder of ZipCar and urban transportation visionary, Robin Chase, recently discussed these very issues with the Boston Globe's Editorial Page Editor, Bina Venkataraman. Watch the full discussion here.
However as good as our intentions as individuals, it will take determined moves by businesses, industry, national and local government to modify the environment to ensure that we can build on these behavioural and attitude changes.
There are initial positive signs. We were delighted to learn about an initiative launched by Richard Curtis and ex-Bank of England governor Mark Carney, the Make My Money Matter campaign, which wants the £3trillion in UK retirement pots used to take on climate change. It is also encouraging that there is a significant movement among some business leaders and policy makers to “build back better” from the pandemic in a way that confronts the climate crisis (watch to the FT's Moral Money discussion below).
This newsletter considers some of the emerging theme and trends as we work to solidify the progress that has been made - and ensure that some light emerges from the COVID-19 darkness.
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Watch FT's Moral Money - Responsible Business in the Age of COVID-19
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Climate Change & COVID-19: Emerging Trends and Opportunities
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1. What is important?: Over the last four months we have faced the greatest health crisis of a generation. We have lived through an experience that was previously unimaginable. It has caused many of us to reassess our priorities, consider core values and clarified what's really important - for many this means prioritising humanity and protecting the environment
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2. Benefits of nature: Significant numbers of us have been enjoying and having a renewed appreciation for nature. A large-scale study found a positive correlation between exposure to the natural world and pro-environmental behaviours. Google Trends also shows that during worldwide lockdowns online searches for “bird sounds”, “identify trees”, and “growing plants” reached double what they were a year ago
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3. Steep reduction in long distance travel: National and international lockdowns have curtailed the vast majority of long-distance travel. As a consequence, there has been a massive reduction in traffic on the roads as well as in air transport (e.g. the number of European daily flights in March and April decreased by approximately 90% compared to last year). Our reduction in movement has led to the biggest carbon crash ever recorded
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4. Changing the way we travel: UK cycle-to-work schemes are up 200% in the number of bicycle orders, with car use roughly 40% less than what it was in mid-February. Mass transit is not an attractive option right now so there is a search for other sustainable alternatives to avoid people returning to their cars. For example, Paris is rolling out 650km of "corona cycle-ways" and Milan has introduced a programme to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists
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5. Greater awareness of consumption: As we have been spending a much greater amount of time at home, we can see for the first time how much energy we are using or how much food is being thrown away. This will hopefully encourage us to stop, think and ultimately change our behaviour.
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Challenge Investing
Within our universe, we have a significant number of companies that are helping to profitably address this global challenge. If you’d like to invest in some of the most promising growth companies based on top research then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
This comes with very best wishes from everyone at Future Planet Capital.
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