- COVID-19 and climate change exemplify transboundary risks that erode human well-being and economic security, particularly affecting the most vulnerable.
- The pandemic has spotlighted inadequacies of both governments and international institutions to cope with transboundary risks.
- Accelerating climate risks require innovative approaches to governance.
- Some communities and governments have demonstrated that COVID-19 risks can be addressed with innovative local, national, and international responses, and stronger global responses are needed.
- NGOs, community groups, youth movements, and many other social actors have shown that transboundary responses to global risks of climate change are also possible and there is mounting pressure on governments to act decisively. A new social compact would strengthen the prospects for a humane and just world with a stable climate.
- COVID-19 and climate change exemplify transboundary risks that erode human well-being and economic security, particularly affecting the most vulnerable.
- The pandemic has spotlighted inadequacies of both governments and international institutions to cope with transboundary risks.
- Accelerating climate risks require innovative approaches to governance.
- Some communities and governments have demonstrated that COVID-19 risks can be addressed with innovative local, national, and international responses, and stronger global responses are needed.
- NGOs, community groups, youth movements, and many other social actors have shown that transboundary responses to global risks of climate change are also possible and there is mounting pressure on governments to act decisively. A new social compact would strengthen the prospects for a humane and just world with a stable climate.
The world urgently needs innovative, imaginative, and transformative approaches to building sustainable and resilient human societies. Across the globe, responses to COVID-19 at local, national, and global scales have revealed the inadequacy of existing capabilities to navigate systemic crises like climate-related disasters and global pandemics. COVID-19 and climate change together not only threaten to disrupt human health and the environment, but also increase racial and social inequality and, without decisive action by governments, exacerbate intra- and intergenerational injustice.
Scientists anticipate that, like COVID-19, the impacts of climate change have the potential to be abrupt and far-reaching, creating a disruptive new normal. The events of the past year challenge myths that systemic risks will occur gradually and that societies and ecosystems will be able to adjust and cope with global environmental changes. Pandemics, extreme weather events, growing inequalities, financial crises, and other global and systemic shocks stem from and profoundly threaten the foundations of our 21st-century societies, including our food, water, energy, data, commodities, manufacturing, and transport systems. The disruptive human and ecological footprints of these systems, as well as their inherent instability, are obstacles to just and equitable societal relations – and they demand a global response.
Fortunately, the global tragedy of COVID-19 has heightened awareness and consciousness across many societies of the deficiencies and fragility of global governance, and of the need for cooperative frameworks that would enable the world to respond collectively to shared global risks. While devastating, COVID-19 and the rising impacts felt from climate change are also important opportunities for transformation away from existing economic and social systems that produce and reinforce climate fragility, social inequality, and systemic risks.
Recognizing the challenges that they pose, the world is now in a position to build new kinds of governance arrangements that can navigate global risks and shocks like pandemics and climate change. Innovation can occur locally, such as with bottom-up community initiatives in Taiwan, in which the online civic and tech community coordinated their activities to leverage government data to develop online maps and tools to successfully combat COVID-19. It can also occur nationally, as in the case of New Zealand, where the government was able to successfully eliminate COVID-19. And innovation can occur internationally, as seen in the ways countries have begun to prepare to coordinate equitable access to and distribution of emerging COVID-19 vaccines although the situation to date remains far from fair.
What is needed now is a new social compact, or global agreement to act,6 to tackle global risks systematically. Such a compact will need to include new narratives and moral reasoning on climate justice, fair access and allocation of the planet’s resources, and equity in human rights to health and well-being.7 New imaginations of a sustainable future and a circular economy with sustainable lifestyles that depart from current consumption and production models will need to guide new policies at all levels of government. Importantly, this project of imagining and creating new, livable, sustainable, and resilient futures must deeply engage the world’s youth.
Humanity has the opportunity to develop a renewed focus and commitment between countries to reform institutions and drive just, systemic transitions. There is already evidence of momentum toward climate-friendly global action: the Green New Deal, which has gained traction in the European Union; C40 collaborations between 94 cities; accelerating movements among youth and indigenous climate activists; and the commitments to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by a growing array of governmental and business organizations, including the global alliance of 73 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with 14 regions, 398 cities, 786 businesses, and 16 investors.
The recent systemic disruptions to global society are perhaps a last chance to create the social foundations for global collaboration to envision and build more humane and sustainable socio-ecological systems on scales from the local to the global.8
The world urgently needs innovative, imaginative, and transformative approaches to building sustainable and resilient human societies. Across the globe, responses to COVID-19 at local, national, and global scales have revealed the inadequacy of existing capabilities to navigate systemic crises like climate-related disasters and global pandemics. COVID-19 and climate change together not only threaten to disrupt human health and the environment, but also increase racial and social inequality and, without decisive action by governments, exacerbate intra- and intergenerational injustice.
Scientists anticipate that, like COVID-19, the impacts of climate change have the potential to be abrupt and far-reaching, creating a disruptive new normal. The events of the past year challenge myths that systemic risks will occur gradually and that societies and ecosystems will be able to adjust and cope with global environmental changes. Pandemics, extreme weather events, growing inequalities, financial crises, and other global and systemic shocks stem from and profoundly threaten the foundations of our 21st-century societies, including our food, water, energy, data, commodities, manufacturing, and transport systems. The disruptive human and ecological footprints of these systems, as well as their inherent instability, are obstacles to just and equitable societal relations – and they demand a global response.
Fortunately, the global tragedy of COVID-19 has heightened awareness and consciousness across many societies of the deficiencies and fragility of global governance, and of the need for cooperative frameworks that would enable the world to respond collectively to shared global risks. While devastating, COVID-19 and the rising impacts felt from climate change are also important opportunities for transformation away from existing economic and social systems that produce and reinforce climate fragility, social inequality, and systemic risks.
Recognizing the challenges that they pose, the world is now in a position to build new kinds of governance arrangements that can navigate global risks and shocks like pandemics and climate change. Innovation can occur locally, such as with bottom-up community initiatives in Taiwan, in which the online civic and tech community coordinated their activities to leverage government data to develop online maps and tools to successfully combat COVID-19. It can also occur nationally, as in the case of New Zealand, where the government was able to successfully eliminate COVID-19. And innovation can occur internationally, as seen in the ways countries have begun to prepare to coordinate equitable access to and distribution of emerging COVID-19 vaccines although the situation to date remains far from fair.
What is needed now is a new social compact, or global agreement to act,6 to tackle global risks systematically. Such a compact will need to include new narratives and moral reasoning on climate justice, fair access and allocation of the planet’s resources, and equity in human rights to health and well-being.7 New imaginations of a sustainable future and a circular economy with sustainable lifestyles that depart from current consumption and production models will need to guide new policies at all levels of government. Importantly, this project of imagining and creating new, livable, sustainable, and resilient futures must deeply engage the world’s youth.
Humanity has the opportunity to develop a renewed focus and commitment between countries to reform institutions and drive just, systemic transitions. There is already evidence of momentum toward climate-friendly global action: the Green New Deal, which has gained traction in the European Union; C40 collaborations between 94 cities; accelerating movements among youth and indigenous climate activists; and the commitments to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by a growing array of governmental and business organizations, including the global alliance of 73 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with 14 regions, 398 cities, 786 businesses, and 16 investors.
The recent systemic disruptions to global society are perhaps a last chance to create the social foundations for global collaboration to envision and build more humane and sustainable socio-ecological systems on scales from the local to the global.8
10
Going to court to defend human rights can be an essential climate action
6
Governments are not yet seizing the opportunity for a green recovery from COVID-19
7
COVID-19 and climate change demonstrate the need for a new social contract
8
Economic stimulus focused primarily on growth would jeopardize the Paris Agreement
9
Electrification in cities is pivotal for just sustainability transitions
5
Climate change can profoundly affect our mental health
1
Improved models strengthen support for ambitious emission cuts to meet Paris Agreement
2
Emissions from thawing permafrost likely to be worse than expected
3
Deforestation is degrading the tropical carbon sink
4
Climate change will severely exacerbate the water crisis