A year ago, young people across the globe took to the streets to appeal for urgent action to address the climate emergency. This was meant to be the year of ambitious commitments to climate change, but the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed the momentum. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) negotiations have been postponed to 2021, and only 12 countries have submitted revised Nationally Determined Contributions to date.

As our attention pivots to what the world could look like after the pandemic, there are calls for recovery measures to be ‘green’ – compatible with climate goals and the Earth’s planetary boundaries. The UN Secretary-General, for example, has called several times for recovery efforts to be consistent with the low emissions transition agenda.

However, there is also pressure to focus on rapid economic recovery to address the desperate need to restore jobs and production, and there are concerns about the limited fiscal space to build in longer-term climate and environmental objectives.

The reality is that we can no longer treat a green recovery as simply an option. But how can we design an ambitious green stimulus package to rapidly create jobs, improve public health and tackle inequality? And how best can we create the economic and political space for that?