Report: Government spent $17 trillion on pandemic recovery programs that HARM the environment
07/16/2021 / By Ramon Tomey
A new report revealed that trillions of dollars allocated to recovery programs following the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic harmed the environment. It pointed out that only about a tenth of the $17 trillion in COVID-19 government bailouts was spent on activities that had a positive effect on the environment. The report also noted that governments have failed to fulfill promises of a “green recovery” following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report published July 15 was penned by British economics consultancy firm Vivid Economics. It acknowledged that most of the $17 trillion went to emergency measures such as wage payments to keep economies afloat. However, about $4.8 trillion went to measures that had a mostly negative impact on the environment. These included outlays on road construction, airline company bailouts and boosts to food production.
It added that about $3 trillion was spent in ways that would offset the wins of green projects. This spending purportedly outweighed the $1.8 trillion spent globally on endeavors such as renewable energy and low-carbon transport. Renewable energy became cheaper than fossil fuels in most parts of the world and the cost of electric vehicles dropped, the report added.
https://www.climate.news/2021-07-16-huge-amounts-pandemic-recovery-programs-harm-environment.html#
