Covid-19
COVID-19 has plunged the global economy into crisis. Green fiscal policies (GFP) can play a key role in shaping the recovery. As governments are devising green fiscal stimulus policies, they must look to maximize short-term growth and employment effects, but they have also a lever in hand to steer economies to a green and fair transition. The collapse of the oil price has created a window of opportunity for carbon taxes and fossil fuel subsidy reform to mobilise revenue and drive low-carbon development. Green budgeting can rationalise inefficient expenditures and align spending with sustainability. In developing countries with limited fiscal space, GFP can be part of a sustainable solution.
News
China’s post-pandemic economic stimulus spending on green projects shows there is room for improvement: Greenpeace
Only 15 per cent of China’s newly added post-Covid-19 national and municipal bonds went to green, sustainable, or low-carbon projects, says Greenpeace. China approved a fiscal stimulus package of 6.35 trillion yuan (US$984 billion) in May last year to help the country’s economic recovery after the pandemic.
How SDG bonds could accelerate a green recovery
The Asian Development Bank’s recent estimates show an economic contraction across Asia (minus-4.0 percent last year in Southeast Asia), and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2020, which estimates around 71 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty, shows the scale of the challenge facing the re-tracking of the SDGs across the world.
Emissions will hit record high by 2023 if green recovery fails, says IEA
Emissions will rise again this year and next year, after a fall last year, and 2023 is now on track to see the highest levels of carbon dioxide output in human history, equalling or surpassing the record set in 2018, according to forecasts released by the International Energy Agency.
Reports
Whose Green Recovery? Why poorer countries must not be left behind by richer countries’ recovery plans (ACT Alliance)
Poor countries could turn to fossil fuels as ‘green recovery’ leaves them behind says new report. A new report from development charity Christian Aid has
Equity, Climate Justice, and Fossil Fuel Extraction: Principles for a Managed Phase Out (OilChange)
As COVID-19 and other factors force an unmanaged decline of oil and gas, a new peer-reviewed study by Greg Muttitt and Sivan Kartha outlines how
IMF Fiscal Monitor – April 2020
April’s IMF Fiscal Monitor elaborates on the importance of fiscal measures to respond the COVID-19 related crisis. Chapter 1 argues that fiscal policies are at
Policy Briefs
Special Series on Fiscal Policies to Respond to COVID-19 – Fiscal Policy Responses to the Sharp Decline in Oil Prices (IMF)
Oil prices have declined sharply as a result of both global demand contraction and supply increase. The urgent priority for oil exporters is to deploy
Special Series on Fiscal Policies to Respond to COVID-19 – Greening the Recovery (IMF)
Fiscal policy across the globe is rightly focused on fighting the COVID-19-induced economic crisis. But the climate change crisis remains, as does the need for
Policy Responses to COVID-19 – Policy Tracker (IMF)
This policy tracker summarizes the key economic responses governments are taking to limit the human and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tracker includes
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