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Coronavirus pandemic
This Week in AsiaHealth & Environment
Melinda Martinus
Sharon Seah
Melinda MartinusandSharon Seah

Opinion | How Asean’s Covid-19 recovery measures are missing opportunities for a green future

  • Few countries in the region have tied green components to their stimulus packages, which contain some environmentally harmful measures
  • Green recovery policies and strategies can help put a country on the path to economic recovery while bringing environmental and sustainability benefits

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Floods after heavy rain in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: AFP
Melinda MartinusandSharon Seah
More than a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a public health emergency, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – a region with a combined GDP of US$9.34 trillion and a population of more than 650 million – has not recovered from the global economic tumult resulting from the pandemic.
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While some economies in the region do appear to be recovering, Asean governments are still prioritising the disbursement of stimulus measures for short-term economic relief. As of May 28, Asean countries had authorised a total of US$730 billion, equivalent to 7.8 per cent of its total GDP in stimulus dollars.

While Asean governments have demonstrated a willingness to boost economic recovery and strengthen socioeconomic resilience during the ongoing crisis, the higher-order challenge is to what extent they can leverage this crisis to equip themselves against climate change, a slow-onset crisis of the same or even bigger magnitude as Covid-19. Green recovery policies and strategies can equally help to put a country on the path to economic recovery while bringing environmental and sustainability benefits.

However, few Asean countries and development partners have tied green components to their Covid-19 stimulus packages, and in effect, environmentally harmful measures are also embedded in the present stimulus packages.

WHAT IS GREEN RECOVERY?

Economists and development experts introduced the concept of green recovery measures to encourage governments to decarbonise the economy and enhance resilience in facing future health and climate shocks. The Institute for European Environmental policy suggests that governments introduce sustainable economic policies to tackle the Covid-19 crisis.

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