Insights Blog

COVID-19 and its challenges have arrived to slow down our daily rhythm, restructuring life as we knew it, leaving millions of people confined inside their homes, impacting, and drastically changing our lifestyles. People privileged enough to have their basic needs covered during the health crisis are using this space to rethink their choices, implement changes and incorporate new habits to their lifestyle. In times of changes, such as when adapting to new environments, new behaviors are more likely to be adopted as part of our daily lives long-term. Changing to sustainable habits is, now more than ever, timely.

Each day people’s habits, decisions and daily consumption have an impact on our planet. If current rates of consumption continue, by 2050 society would need 2.5 planets to support the projected nearly 10 billion people (considering global average consumption) (1). The way people eat, decide to wear, how they travel and transport, the way they use their money, and how they decide to have fun are decisions that are made each day, and if it fuels a movement, it can shift the needle towards a sustainable and more just planet.

The project to plant trees across the Sahel known as the Great Green Wall, a large belt of trees that stretches across twelve states of the Sahel, has achieved many of its envisioned technical and environmental goals. However, there is much to be discussed for a successful implementation of the initiative.

The 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement marks a pivotal milestone in environmental disclosure. Across the globe, more and more countries and companies are leveraging the moment to invest in a more resilient and inclusive future. As we embark on a new year, CDP Hong Kong's regional director Pratima Divgi looks back on the challenging year of 2020 and discusses 4 emerging trends in the global sustainability terrain that will shape our market and regulatory environment in the next decade.

While there is hope that vaccines will help bring an end to the pandemic, there is still no magic fix for the fight against climate change. But a new president in the White House and the US pledging to recommit to the Paris Agreement offers some optimism for 2021.

Joe Biden has made global action on climate change a top priority. Is his climate policy agenda feasible, and will it be effective in achieving its objectives?

Globally, the effects of climate change are felt with rising temperatures, droughts, heatwaves, and more frequent and severe storm events impacting water quantity and quality. In response, water managers need to ensure that communities are resilient to water scarcity pressures and water excesses and that the natural system and its associated ecosystem services are protected and enhanced. For cities, the primary strategies available to enhance the resilience to climatic extremes include applying demand management, developing alternative water sources, and implementing blue-green infrastructure (BGI).

The impact of COVID-19 has put a strain on healthcare systems throughout the world. Investing in the sustainable use of energy and water, sound management of medical waste and advanced digital solutions would ease the burden and help improve the health of people and the planet.

This blog was originally published on OECD Environment Focus on 2 December 2020. By Andrew Prag and Guy Halpern, OECD Environment Directorate Almost all economic sectors have suffered due to the evolving COVID-19 crisis. For the oil and gas industry, already battered on one side by low prices due to an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and on the other by the push to decarbonise the global economy, the crisis hit at an especially challenging time.

Governments are in uncharted territory as they respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic — but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn from the past. The most recent comparison is the global financial crisis that began in 2007. There are important lessons that emerged, especially from the forward-thinking governments that included sustainability projects as part of their economic stimulus packages.

Digital adoption has triggered qualitative changes for a green economy and renewable energy transition. However, for a transformation to happen, policymakers need to strategically address new business models that embrace the development and deployment of digital technologies for data generation, storage, transmission and analysis.