Mayors’ task force calculates the benefits of green investment for post-COVID recovery

Investing COVID-19 stimulus funds in green solutions would deliver millions of jobs, dramatically improve air quality, save billions in healthcare costs and slash emissions, according to new research released by a group of prominent global mayors.

The C40 Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force issued a statement saying that its members are “deeply concerned” that only three to five percent of an estimated US$12 – $15 trillion in international COVID stimulus is currently committed to green initiatives. They warn that a “dirty recovery” will accelerate the climate emergency, endanger public health, cost lives and sacrifice jobs.

“By ignoring the opportunity to make rapid green stimulus investments, most national governments and global institutions are likely leading us to catastrophic climate change,” the statement says.

It was developed by the C40 Global Mayors Covid-19 Recovery Task Force and signed by Mayor of Los Angeles and C40 Chair, Eric Garcetti; Chair of the Task Force and Mayor of Milan, Italy, Giuseppe Sala; Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Yvonne Aki Sawyerr; Secretary for the Environment of Hong Kong, China, KS Wong; Mayor of Lisbon, Portugal, Fernando Medina; Mayor of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Ahmed Aboutaleb; Mayor of Medellín, Colombia, Daniel Quintero Calle; Mayor of Montréal, Canada, Valérie Plante; Mayor of New Orleans, USA, LaToya Cantrell; Mayor of Seattle, USA, Jenny Durkan; and Acting Mayor of Seoul, Republic of Korea, Seo Jung-hyup.

Benefits

The report calculates that investing COVID-19 stimulus funds in green solutions could:

• Create over 50 million sustainable jobs by 2025, across the nearly 100 cities in the C40 network and their supply chains – over a third more than investing funds in a ‘high-carbon recovery’.
• Reduce air pollution by almost 30 percent in cities around the world. Such improvements could prevent 270,000 premature deaths over the next decade in C40 cities. It could also make further coronavirus pandemics less likely by reducing habitat destruction, the mayors say, citing research from the United Nations environment programme.
• Lead to over US$1.4 billion savings in health costs for avoided hospital admissions on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases associated with poor air quality, and deliver wider economic benefits of over US$280 billion over the next ten years from premature deaths averted.
• More than halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and help to keep global heating below 1.5 degrees. A return to ‘business as usual’ would see GHG emissions continue to rise.

The analysis was based on six city examples using a modelled scenario in which COVID-recovery stimulus funding supports investment in climate action that prioritises rapid creation of employment. This was compared to a pre-COVID baseline and results were scaled-up across all C40 Cities to provide a high-level illustration of the potential benefits.

By modelling the impacts of slow versus accelerated stimulus spending, the task force concludes that an accelerated green recovery over the next five years provides the best chance to prevent climate breakdown, and would deliver far more green jobs and health benefits in the longer term.

Call to end fossil fuel investment

“The most significant test of any government’s commitment to climate action right now is where it is directing COVID stimulus funding for recovery,” the mayors of the C40 Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force say in their statement.

The group repeated their call to national and regional governments, central banks and international financial institutions to act in support of their goals, and called for an end to public fossil fuel investments and subsidies.

Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan, Italy, and Chair of the Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, commented: “While we must continue to focus on preventing the further spreading of the virus and on responding to the immediate needs of our affected communities, we are also called to provide a long-term vision and to prepare for it as well as possible.

“Our cities are in dire need of a direction towards a better future and the outcomes of the Mayoral Task Force work and its underlying research provide fellow mayors with a formidable set of tools to navigate the crisis and strengthen their inclusive climate action.”

“I believe the results of the research on the benefits of a green stimulus – and the frightening costs of a lack of green stimulus – are compelling and influential,” he added. “They demonstrate why a recovery that is green and just is the only possible recovery and what are the benefits of sustainable and equitable investments for our citizens. I am sure this will have a powerful domino effect in pursuing a green and just recovery throughout our continents.”