Doctors and health professionals from more than 200 organizations have signed an open letter to G20 leaders and their top medical advisors calling on them to focus on environmentally friendly solutions to the coronavirus crisis that takes into account air pollution and climate degradation.
Similar calls have been made by a group of companies with a total value of $2.4 trillion, by European political and business leaders, as well as institutional investors and financial institutions, and even by finance ministers, Nobel Prize winners and central banks.
They are demanding that we seize the moment to reduce emissions and try to bring the climate threat under control.
The future we face could come much faster than some people expect: plagues, drought, flooding, hurricanes and other extreme events already threaten weakened economies in the short term.
We also have a great opportunity to increase investment in renewable energies.
It won’t be easy but this is a time for maturity and to apply technology to rebuilding the economy on a sustainable basis.