Climate change and the pandemic
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2020
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In many cities, pollution has reduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, but what will happen to the environment when economies get going again? The year after the financial crisis, global carbon dioxide emissions jumped by nearly 6% as nations put in place stimulus packages driven by cheap fuel and energy-intensive sectors like construction. There are also fears companies which had planned to invest in clean energy could put those plans on hold as market conditions change. Vera Mantengoli of the newspaper La Nuova Venezia tells us how nature has begun to reclaim its place along Venice's famous canals. We also hear from Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Lucy Siegle, an environmental writer and journalist says that although the UN's climate change conference has been postponed to 2021, we can't lose sight of the urgency for action on climate. And we hear from the International Energy Agency's group executive director, Dr Fatih Birol. Picture: Clear waters in Venice's Grand Canal, where boat traffic has stopped during the city's lockdown to stop the spread of Covid19. Credit Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on Business Daily, we're taking you to Venice, but not as you've heard it before. |
| 0:06.1 | Normally heaving with tourists, the city of Bridges has recently been deserted. |
| 0:12.1 | Now, as Italy's lockdown is slowly eased, people are once again venturing outdoors. |
| 0:18.6 | But over the past few weeks, birds and fish have had Venice's famous |
| 0:22.6 | lagoon to themselves. You feel the balance between nature and human. A balance we probably lost. |
| 0:33.8 | Planet Earth has been taking a breather. CO2 emissions were down by about 25% compared with the same period the year before. |
| 0:43.3 | So could this cleaner air have any lasting benefit? |
| 0:47.3 | Or is it possible the pandemic will actually damage the environment of tomorrow? |
| 0:52.3 | The science doesn't wait for this. |
| 0:55.0 | We can't just press pause and we can't roll back because we still have to meet those targets. |
| 1:02.2 | That's all here in Business Daily with me, Vivienne Nunes, from the BBC. |
| 1:09.3 | In Italy, the human tragedy caused by the coronavirus is immense. |
| 1:14.5 | More than 20,000 people have died, though recent measures to keep the population indoors |
| 1:19.7 | do seem to be stopping the spread. |
| 1:22.3 | Like many Italians, residents in the ancient city of Venice have been locked down for weeks. Now they're slowly |
| 1:29.0 | starting to emerge as shops selling books, stationary and children's clothing are allowed to reopen. |
| 1:36.3 | But the city Venetians are now reacquainting themselves with is a city that's been transformed. |
| 1:42.8 | A few days ago, Vera Mantagnoli of the newspaper Le Nwarva Venetia |
| 1:46.8 | stepped out into the still empty streets for Business Daily. |
| 1:50.6 | She told us how nature has been reclaiming its place |
| 1:54.1 | along the famous canals. |
| 1:58.9 | No boats, no people, no shops, no restaurants, no museum, no schools, no tourist trolle. |
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