Green deals: climate action around the world

The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change aren't directly related, yet the pandemic has changed how we think about this and other global challenges. Actions that would have seemed impossible in January 2020 quickly became realities as the virus spread. These included mass lockdowns, mask mandates, sizable bursts of government spending and public assistance, and—in some countries, at least—vaccination campaigns that proceeded with an urgency typically reserved for wartime mobilization.
 

Meanwhile, the swift development of vaccines reminded us that human ingenuity can still pull us back from the brink of disaster. Consider, for example, the “COVID-19 emissions dip." This was the 17% drop in emissions that occurred between April 2019 and April 2020. The reduction happened for a terrible reason, but as the skies overhead turned bluer and clearer than they’d been in decades, many experienced a renewed sense of what is possible. The skies over our cities really could be that clean again, and permanently, if people all over the planet worked together and made the right choices.
 

Given the unexpected lessons of the pandemic year, then, it's no surprise to discover that climate initiatives are getting more ambitious, and are now receiving the aggressive levels of public funding needed for them to succeed.
 

Following is a brief tour of meaningful climate action programs now taking shape around the globe.

The European Green Deal, which was announced in Brussels in late 2019, aims to make the EU climate neutral by 2050: a bold promise. And to fulfill it, the EU foresees initiatives that will require a trillion euros in investment in the 2020s alone.
 

The Green Deal’s first order of business is to decarbonize the EU’s energy sector, which accounts for 75% of the bloc's greenhouse emissions, and transition to renewable and hybrid energy sources.
 

At the same time, the plan calls for a comprehensive program of building renovation. With carbon-neutral renovations and retrofits, houses and offices will become much more energy efficient, reducing energy consumption and costs for businesses and homeowners alike. Europe's industrial base will also become more efficient, in part by mandating increases in the percentages of recycled materials that European factories use. (At the moment, only 12% of European industry's materials are recycled.)

In the United States, the Biden administration is working on a “clean energy revolution" that will eliminate 100% of the power sector’s carbon emissions by 2035. The Biden plan also aims to achieve a net-zero-carbon economy by 2050.
 

The administration has ordered federal agencies to buy non-polluting energy and zero-emissions vehicles, and has stopped the Department of the Interior from signing new oil and gas extraction deals that involve public waters and lands. It's been promoting a “whole-of-government" approach to the climate crisis according to which climate concerns will factor holistically into government policy—even foreign policy.

China, the world's largest developing country, hasn't been much of a leader in climate change policy. But the galvanizing effects of the pandemic year might have worked even on Beijing, with its behemoth industrial economy. In late 2020, China made a commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2060.
 

Japan, which has been strongly criticized by Paris Agreement signatories for its tepid climate-change response, also changed its tune in 2020. In October Tokyo pledged itself to carbon neutrality and an 80% emissions cut by 2050. Japan's most powerful business federation, dominated by companies from energy-intensive industries, is now supporting the 2050 deadline—an important sign of how corporate sentiment is now changing in favor of climate action.