Net Zero Recovery Programme

Description

In response to the economic impact of COVID-19, governments have introduced extensive fiscal stimulus packages. There is optimism that these measures could also facilitate climate change action, but this isn't an automatic outcome.

Governments are providing substantial support to the private sector, which presents an opportunity to promote sustainable recovery. They could condition bailouts and recovery packages on the businesses' adoption of credible net-zero strategies, thereby enabling countries and organisations to meet their obligation to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 as stipulated in the Paris Agreement.

The initiative plans to unite researchers from law, public policy, climate science, and sustainable finance fields to identify the sectors and regions where this conditionality might be most influential. They will create template sets of minimum criteria for the required net-zero commitments, particularly for sectors that are hard to abate and have high emissions, such as shipping, aviation, steel, and cement.

The initiative also aims to leverage the widespread public demand to 'build back better' following the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting an economic and legal argument to policymakers for integrating net-zero plans into their COVID-19 stimulus packages.

The current period presents an immense opportunity to initiate the transition to a net-zero economy, due to the general aim of economic recovery, increased public awareness of climate change, humanity's relationship with nature, and the focus on net-zero commitments in the lead-up to COP 26 in November 2021. The initiative seeks to present this case to governments while simultaneously developing templates and legal mechanisms to facilitate their action.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

University of Oxford
Oxford