Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

CarbonBrief have developed an interactive grid where you can explore and track the progress of how different countries across the world are implementing green recovery and renewal plans which aim to cut emissions in the aftermath of COVID-19. Below, we offer some examples of diverse initiatives from across the world:

• France allocated funding to “promote and support environmental performance” in their food and agricultural sector, e.g. funding to support farmers to adapt their farming systems to lower their impact on the environment. France have also allocated funding to create over 1,000 “eco-responsible restaurants in rural communities”, along with investment in “energy efficiency of public and private buildings, social housing, insulation and low-carbon heating”
• Sweden allocated investment to raise the “energy performance of Sweden’s housing stock and to support improvements in rental properties”
• Finland plan to “phase out oil heating in both households and public buildings” and allocated funding to the “wood constriction programme which promotes the use of timber by enhancing industry expertise, developing legislation and building regulations, and providing factual information”
• Chile have committed to plant trees on 24,000 hectares of land and invest in better fire management as part of its “mitigation and adaptation commitments related to forests and biodiversity”. Chile will also have invested in modernisation and irrigation projects for farmers, as part of the COVID-19 budget response

COVID-19 has strained food producers and distributors (e.g. disrupted food supply chains, problematized crop harvesting, impacted logistics and distribution), and this has impacted the amount of food waste created in the supply chain. COVID-19 has also changed household food waste creation by affecting household income, shopping habits and consumption patterns. The implications are broad. For example, the real cost of food has increased for some vulnerable households, who must purchase from supermarkets that will deliver rather than shop at their usual 'cheaper' shops. Food waste has become an important concern for organisations and households, and some countries are taking strong action. Consider:

• Charge businesses and families that waste food (such as in South Korea, where the proportion of recycling food increased from 2% to 95% in 2009)
• Strengthen partnerships between food producers and distributors and local food initiatives
• Develop local agriculture and growing food in and around cities, e.g. Singapore identified unused spaces in its cities to create urban farms to address supply chain issues cause by COVID-19
• Partner with local volunteer initiatives that tackle food poverty and food waste:
  • Ensure voluntary food distribution groups have the necessary equipment to store nutritious food and distribute that to the community
  • Set up community fridges, e.g. local parishes or town halls to support local groups
  • To ensure food that is not fit for consumption is recycled appropriately
  • Support groups in the collection, transportation and redistribution of food
• Educate households on:
  • How to store food safely after purchasing
  • Safe ways to store and re-use leftovers
  • How to correctly recycle food waste
  • Recipes on for using leftover ingredients
  • How to safely donate excess food
  • How to interpret food labels correctly