Covid-19: G20 countries bet on fossil fuels for economic recovery

Ever since the economic fallout of the covid-19 pandemic became clear, countries began to announce stimulus packages designed to see them bounce back from the slowdown. In the past few months, there has been much talk of a “green” economic revival, focusing on a transition to clean energy, keeping in mind the greater threat of the climate crisis.

According to new research data released in the public domain on 15 July, much of this talk has been revealed to be hollow. It reveals that G20 countries have made investment commitments worth $151 billion dollars towards fossil fuels in an effort to aid economic recovery. Just 20% of these projects are subject to requirements such as climate targets or pollution reduction targets. In comparison, clean energy projects worth $89 billion have been committed to, but only 29% of these are subject to environmental safeguards, and can be said to be truly “clean”.