TREND 02Ecological transition: at the heart of the economic recovery -

Details of recovery plans

30 billion over 2 years Goal: to accelerate the ecological transition in transport, construction, energy, industry and agriculture

FRANCE

1,000 billion over 10 years Goal: to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050

$61 billion over 5 years

$2,000 billion over 4 years Goal: to build low-carbon infrastructure

Goal: to increase renewable energy production, strengthen green mobility, renovate rented housing and turn cities green

EUROPEAN UNION

USA

SOUTH KOREA

TR EN

DS

As well as a global public health crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a corresponding economic and jobs crisis. As soon as the first recovery plans were announced, economists and research institutions called for a focus on green, inclusive growth: This large-scale stim- ulus spending will shape the global economy for decades to come. These

decisions could trigger unbearable cli- mate disasters or create a resilient and safe economy powered by clean energy, emphasise 14 internationally recognised institutions (including Columbia Univer- sity, I4CE and IISD) in a joint call. The recovery plans announced so far have responded to this need (see diagram opposite).

Investors, too, are calling for the econ- omy to be allied with ecology. 2020 was a year of acceleration in green finance: green bonds, sustainable bonds, sus- tainable debt etc. According to Bloomb- erg, finance in the form of loans granted to sustainable projects reached the record sum of $732 billion in 2020, 29% higher than in 2019.

More investment was paired with greater expectations of non-financial perfor- mance, as shown by many investors advocating the Say on Climate, a prin- ciple by which shareholders vote every year on the climate policies of listed companies, enabling them to monitor their actions and results more closely.

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