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Will the Coronavirus Crisis Trump the Climate Crisis?

The battle over how to spend recovery funds — to quickly restore the old economy or invest
in a greener one — will define the post-pandemic world.

By Steven Erlanger

May 9, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS — With the global paralysis induced by the coronavirus, levels of pollution and
carbon emission are dropping everywhere — leaving bluer skies, visible mountains,
splendid wildflowers. Even Venice’s famously murky canals are running clear.

After decades of industry and government slow-walking the climate issue, for some it is
proof that effective action can be achieved.

But nature’s revival has come at enormous cost, with Europe’s economy projected to decline
7.4 percent this year. So for many, like the suddenly unemployed, concerns about climate —
which seemed urgent just a few months ago — can seem less so now.

Those competing camps are now locked in debate over how and what to rebuild — between
those who want to get the economy moving again, no matter how, and those who argue that
the crisis is a chance to accelerate the transition to a cleaner economy.

Jean Pisani-Ferry, an economist and former aide to President Emmanuel Macron of France,
described this as the struggle that “will define the post-pandemic world.”
Subscribers make our coverage of
For green militants, the virus “only
thestrengthens the possible.
coronavirus crisis urgent need for climate action,’’ he
wrote recently. “But die-hard industrialists are equally
See subscription convinced: There should be no
options
higher priority than to repair a ravaged economy, postponing stricter environmental
regulations if necessary. The battle has started.’’

As European governments squabble bitterly over a virus-recovery fund and the next seven-
year budget, the issue is front and center.

The European Union began the year promoting a plan for a rapid transformation of the
economy toward a carbon-neutral future — “the Green Deal” — as its flagship theme and
engine for renewed growth.