COVID-19 has given the world time to reflect on many issues. From the way we work to the way we consume. Suddenly these modes of transactions and communications have been revisited. Interestingly, we’ve realized, we can live without the variety of distractions that our lives have become entangled with. Meanwhile, environments, and ecosystems have flourished because we are able to live with less. So now, the economy needs to begin again. Where does this lead us?
We have been given an opportunity to start anew; to begin again in a different way. During this pause, the European Union has been utilizing the time to conceptualize their GREEN DEAL. As many of us have been working from home, so to have the policymakers and administrators. On May 4th, PBS’s/CNN’s Christian Amanpour talked with the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen about the EU’s new Green Deal. Leyen established that the Green Deal will ramp up as they open up. This downtime has provided the perfect pause to solidify the vision and perfect a starting point to implement the new circular economy. By applying their vision of a circular economy, they hope to increase the EU’s GDP by .05% which will employ 700,000 people by 2030. One of the significant trajectories for this new economy is to have climate neutrality by 2050. Immediately, one main focal point is waste reduction through repairables, renewables, and reusables. From energy resources to consumer products, there will be a focus on creating lengthier life to various consumables such as electronics, waste reduction, and building on resource sustainability.
The three overarching themes of the E.U’s GREEN DEAL are:
- No net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050
- Economic growth is decoupled from resource use
- No person and no place are left behind.[1]
The consortium is looking at, not only, their own cluster of countries but looking at the global effects that a population’s actions place on all of us. They have quite rightly taken responsibility.
In some parts of Canada, some of these circular economy actions have been taken place for a number of years without actual acknowledgment. In the lower mainland, reusables are becoming the norm not the exception. Policies may actually be lagging behind public behavior. When talking about resource and energy management, the policy is an imperative act. Thomas Gunton, the director of the Resource and Environmental Planning Program at Simon Fraser University and a former B.C. deputy environment minister is quoted in his recent op-ed article for CBC.
“The good news is we have the ability to meet our climate-change commitments by replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar energy, buying electric cars, and upgrading our homes and businesses to reduce energy consumption. And, as the International Energy Agency states, the current economic downturn presents a major opportunity for governments to accelerate the trend toward clean energy.”[2]
So where do we go from here? As Canada starts to ramp up, will we be a country “ahead of the curve”, once we have flattened it, or will we be left behind?
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-19-climate-change-crisis-opinion-1.5554971