LOOKING BEYOND COVID-19: INTEGRATED PATHWAYS TO ADDRESS HEALTH, ECONOMY AND CLIMATE TOGETHER

    G-STIC Side-event in the context of the 2021 STI Forum organized by the Permanent Missions of Belgium and Brazil to the UN

    On 4/5 Prof. Koundouri gave a speech at the G-STIC webinar “Looking beyond Covid19: integrated pathways to address health, economy and climate”, organized by the Permanent Missions of Belgium and Brazil to the UN, during the UN STI Forum.

    01:00 PM – 01:50 PM EDT

    Shaping a post-pandemic world

    • Dirk Fransaer, Managing Director, VITO
    • Paulo Gadelha, former President & coordinator Strategy for 2030 Agenda, Fiocruz
    • Phoebe Koundouri, Co-Chair, SDSN Europe and SDSN Greece
    • Vibha Dhawan, Director-General, TERI
    • Thulani Dlamini, CEO, CSIR

    Learn more: https://www.gstic.org/sti-forum-2021/g-stic/

    Key Points of  Prof. Koundouri's presentation:

    Early 2021, UN SDSN Europe has publiched the report "Transformations
    for the Joint Implementation of Agenda 2030  for Sustainable
    Development and the European Green Deal: A Green and Digital,
    Job-Based and Inclusive Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic"
    https://www.unsdsn.org/the-future-europe-wants-a-green-and-digital-job-based-and-inclusive-recovery-from-covid-19-pandemic
    My contribution summarized the main messages from this report. First
    we have a moral responsibility to “Build forward Better”: COVID 19
    pandemic-related recovery packages are financed by national debt,
    hence they are loans from future generations. Second, there is a solid
    economic case for “Build forward Better”: Recent simulations of the
    effect of green recovery plans worldwide confirm that a green economic
    stimulus is more growth enhancing than a ‘return-to-normal’ stimulus
    that would merely boost current, unsustainable consumption and
    production patterns. Thirs, beyond fiscal stimulus that is expected to
    boost aggregate demand, this crisis calls for transformative public
    investments that will shape a sustainable and fair, green and digital
    transition, and leverage private sector investment. Fourth, our
    Long-term vision should be the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 Sustainable
    Development Goals (SDGs), 2015 Paris Agreement. The European Green
    Deal provides the right level of ambition and direction towards this
    vision. This report connects four major policy initiatives – the SDGs,
    the European Green Deal, the European Semester Process, and the EU
    recovery plan – to support policymakers with actionable strategies
    (technological, policy and fiancial pathways) that can guide EU-wide
    and national economic recovery in line with Europe’s overarching
    sustainability agenda.