Following the enormous health and social costs imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, increasing attention is turning to facilitating a green recovery by promoting economic activity while also tackling the global climate emergency. Policy development for a green recovery should be based on robust and transparent scientific evidence.
This paper draws upon previous work on assessing energy, environmental, and health priorities to advise on some of the key issues for rebuilding economies to deliver benefits fairly for planetary and human health. Recommendations include rapidly reducing the generation and use of high-carbon energy, giving greater recognition to the value of ecosystem services, and taking account of health impacts in all sectoral policies, including those designed for the green recovery.