Green coronavirus recovery can put Americans back to work
The coronavirus pandemic has tanked the United States economy.
The coronavirus pandemic has tanked the United States economy.
From April to June, U.S. GDP shrank 9.5%, the largest quarterly decline ever recorded. U.S. unemployment is at 11.1%. And pandemic stimulus checks are running out.
If the virus is contained within the second half of this year, though, we can bounce back from this economic blow. And it starts with tackling another global crisis: unchecked climate change.
The U.S. stands to lose 10.5% of its GDP to climate change by the end of the century. Unlike with the current pandemic, we’re unlikely to recover those economic losses.
Two studies published this week, however, suggest that a green recovery, particularly in the U.S., could solve many climate-related issues, while putting people back to work. And it’s more practical than you think.
“The critical question is not whether we have to rebuild, but how do we rebuild the U.S economy?” Devashree Saha, a senior associate at the World Resources Institute (WRI), told Fast Company.
Saha is the co-author of a new report, which found that since 2005, 41 states and Washington, D.C. have decoupled their GDP growth from emissions. All saw a decrease in emissions and an increase in GDP — at the same time, the country’s overall GDP grew by 25%.
“Investment in low carbon infrastructure and focusing on climate policies is going to be win-win for the U.S. economy not only in the near term, but it’s going to set up the economy for long-term prosperity,” she said.
The U.S. already spends billions of dollars on clean energy, but these investments are easily overshadowed by the hundreds of billions spent supporting a sinking fossil fuel industry. As the new research shows, investments in only clean energy, rather than in fossil fuels, can boost economies without destroying the environment.
And widespread decarbonization of the U.S. economy could be just what the doctor ordered, according to another study published this week. Investing in a 100% clean energy economy in the U.S. could create 25 million jobs over the next 15 years, which would level out to 5 million sustained jobs by mid-century.
That’s nearly five times the 1.1 million people employed by the oil, gas, coal industries combined in 2019.
“From mass unemployment to the threat of climate change, the U.S. will face a number of seemingly unprecedented challenges even after the current public health tragedy has passed,” the authors wrote in the study. “For a world looking to bounce back from a pandemic, there is no other project that would create this many jobs.”
The good news is that there’s no longer an economic argument against renewables: Both solar and wind power are cheaper than fossil fuels. And the coal industry employs only 74,800 people, compared to wind’s 111,000 and growing. Imagine what we could do with millions of green jobs.
Already, the European Union is leaving the U.S. in the dust. The E.U.’s economy also took a huge blow from the pandemic, yet now it’s funding a green recovery — in fact, three quarters of all green stimulus funding is from the E.U. Meanwhile, none of the $3 trillion in stimulus spending in the U.S. has gone toward clean energy or tackling climate change.
This is a crucial point in history, once again highlighting the importance of the U.S. election in November. The U.S. can either sit idly and watch it pass while disease after natural disaster after disease knocks our economy down. Or leaders can take a stand, create jobs, and ensure a resilient future.