The COVID19 and lockdown derived recession will be extremely costly; the USA, along with other countries will be spending more than 10% of their annual GNP for 2020 to address the health crisis and fight the recession. The severity of the situation on a global scale in relation to health, security, and economic sectors is painfully clear to all – so the question is, if climate justice, for the time being, is a luxury we cannot afford?

In the LI Climate Justice Committee, we believe that it makes no sense to consider these as mutually exclusive. If we are to incentivise industries to get them back on their feet, there is no sane argument towards ignoring the sustainability development goals and the Paris Accord in the process.

This is why we as liberals need to put pressure on our local and regional governments and make sure to remind our colleagues what we owe future generations when engaging in the post-Covid19 response.

The social liberal party of Denmark, Radikale Venstre, has as an example of this released a 13 initiative plan for a Green post-covid Economy Re-launch. The suggested initiatives are found below:

• Initiate renovation projects from the Public Housing Fund;
• Remove the tax on waste heat recovery for distribution;
• Incentivize installation of electric heat pumps;
• Premium for scrapping of natural gas- and oil-fired burners;
• Direct support for the installation of large heat pumps in agriculture, service and production industries;
• Green Power into Green Fuels: More funds for research, development and demonstration of new, immature green technologies, including electrofuels;
• Full phase-out of coal in industrial and district heating;
• More money for green initiatives in the Innovation Fund;
• Improve coverage of charging units for electric cars;
• Accelerating the expansion of the electricity grid;
• Accelerate rail investments;
• Green Guarantee Scheme – attractive green investment opportunities for private investors;
• Advance the establishment of the Green Future Fund, which was agreed with the Finance Act for 2020.

We have an opportunity to ensure that our post COVID-19 response is used to better the sustainability of the way we live and structure our economies; we, in Radikale Venstre, are confident that these ambitious action points will contribute to that future, and although some may be context specific, I invite readers to use them as inspiration for their own national recovery plans.

Louise Vinther Alis
Member of the LI Climate Justice Committee & Chair of the Green Transition Forum
LI Full Member Radikale Venstre, Denmark

Note:

The fund has a total capacity of DKK 25 billion ($3.7 billion) and has been approved by Radikale Ventre leadership. If you wish to consult the plan, please click this link.