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Climate Change

How public servants can tackle climate change post-Covid-19

Section titled “How public servants can tackle climate change post-Covid-19”

2021-09-08 Apolitcal webinar with Dr Debbie Rosen, Jazmin Burgess

How the pandemic shone a light on climate change

Section titled “How the pandemic shone a light on climate change”
  • Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions?
    • Significant drops in March-April 2020
  • Climate impact?
    • Research happened in real time, predicated and confirmed lowering of 7% of emissions
    • Overall, no long term impact. Global lockdowns are not enough to stop climate change
2020 emission changes

Need to look at green recovery for long term impact

Section titled “Need to look at green recovery for long term impact”
  • Raise priority of climate change
  • Pandemic exposed inequalities
  • People more in touch with environment because of lockdowns
  • Support:
    • Job creation in green industry
    • Promote green start ups
    • Public interventions like green spaces

Questions and Answers

Section titled “Questions and Answers”

How to address solutions? How to balance climate action and pandemic action?

  • Promote climate mitigation and adaptation
    • Example quick win on mitigations
      • Analyzing methane emissions which show few major emitters
      • Reduce aerosols
      • From pandemic: reduce emissions due to work from home, reduced travel, and better internet access
  • Think of climate and pandemic as related issues, for example city inequalities and living space interventions
  • Talk about solutions separate from climate activism such as:
    • Reducing air pollution, improving air quality
    • Youth employment in emerging sectors
  • Digital and emissions?
    • First step is increase awareness of climate impact like crypto and data science

Global emissions trading?

  • Politics makes trading problem difficult
  • 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Conference of the Parties (COP26) will gauge international commitment

How to ensure policy is climate change friendly?

  • Use tools to check if policy could have a climate impact
  • Interdisciplinary groups:
    • Example: Public health work links to climate change
  • Gender and climate changes:
    • There are cities working on women and climate considerations. Example:
      • Barcelona - weather and women working and access to heat recovery services