Climate on losing end in recovery spending

UNITED NATIONS－Countries are spending unprecedented amounts of money to bounce back from the pandemic, but less than one dollar out of five will help fight global warming and heal nature, a new United Nations report says.

The top economies have laid out more than $14.6 trillion to date to rebound from last year's crisis.

But only $341 billion or about 18 percent is going to green spending and "building back better," a report on Wednesday by the United Nations Environment Programme and Oxford University said.

"It seems like the world is trying to put out a house fire with a garden hose, while a perfectly good hydrant is available just next door," said report lead author Brian O'Callaghan of Oxford University's Economic Recovery Project.

The report highlights missed opportunities, singling out Australia where only 2 percent of $130 billion in recovery spending is green-oriented.

Countries in a hurry often choose familiar economic methods instead of investing in "a sustainable inclusive future" which involves shifting the way society acts, said German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze.

UN Environment Programme Chief Inger Andersen said: "On the whole so far, global green spending does not match the severity of the three planetary crises of climate change, nature loss and pollution."

If the world concentrates on clean energy spending it can come out of this crisis "definitely more able to deal with the abrupt shock that climate change demonstrably is imposing on our societies," said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

With 82 percent of recovery spending not being green, it supports the status quo, said O'Callaghan, citing "unconditional airline bailouts that could have so easily been green". But he praised France for making airlines address climate change in its rescue package.

The report singles out the United States, South Korea, South Africa and the United Kingdom for not doing that.

In the United States, of the $3.44 trillion spending on COVID-19 through the end of 2020, only about $10 billion of that spending has been green, O'Callaghan said.

Agencies via Xinhua