The unprecedented disruptions to business operations and personal lifestyles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could help people to develop more climate-conscious habits, according to Alison McLean, Head of Behavioural Research at Swiss Re.
McLean noted that the pandemic has already resulted in extraordinary changes to behaviour, as 80-90% of people in affected countries have complied with physical distancing and social isolation rules.
This has led to a 5.5% fall in global carbon output, and Swiss Re anticipates that many governments could use the disruption as an opportunity to emphasise sustainability and digital transformation in their economic recovery strategy.
Coronavirus disruptions in terms of working from home and minimising travel could also encourage people to rethink approaches to sustainable travel, particularly as technology helps support new ways of working, McLean suggested.
“Climate change has implications for the frequency and severity of future pandemics, potentially extending the transmission season and geographical range for many infectious diseases and so increasing the toll on human life and health,” she explained.
“If COVID-19 and climate change share a destructive exponential growth pattern, then it’s necessary to act as quickly and decisively on climate change as we are with the coronavirus pandemic.”
Let’s focus on the biggest threat,” McLean concluded. “COVID-19 may be dwarfed by the exponentially catastrophic risk of climate change. I hope the salience of this pandemic helps us pay attention to the climate and helps us maintain our new, climate-friendly habits.”
“And based on the behavioural science of how we form habits and what we pay attention to, this indeed seems possible – an unintended consequence of COVID-19 that we can embrace.”
