COVID-19 and Planetary Health: How a Pandemic Could Pave the Way for a Green Recovery

The policy brief examines the critical link between environmental degradation and human health, framing the COVID-19 pandemic as a consequence of neglecting these interconnections. It argues that a 'green recovery' requires breaking down policy silos between health and environment ministries and integrating health co-benefits into climate and biodiversity finance. The document highlights the high economic and human costs of pollution, zoonotic diseases, and inefficient food systems, proposing a transdisciplinary 'planetary health' framework to guide sustainable development and safeguard against future global health crises.

• Environmental factors are a primary driver of global mortality, with nearly 25% of all global deaths linked to economic decisions that impact the environment. Specifically, poor air quality causes 7 million deaths annually, while poor water quality causes 3.5 million deaths.
• The COVID-19 pandemic and other zoonotic diseases are linked to ecosystem degradation. Over a 68-year period, 60% of emerging infectious diseases were zoonoses, with more than 75% of those originating from wildlife.
• There is a significant gap in the integration of health and climate finance. Only 0.5% of multilateral climate finance is specifically earmarked for health projects, and only 10% of nationally determined contributions funded by the Green Climate Fund include health-related activities.
• Preventative actions to reduce zoonotic disease transmission are far more cost-effective than responding to pandemics. Annual preventative measures, such as disease monitoring and regulating the wild meat trade, are estimated at USD 22-31 billion, whereas the economic and mortality costs of COVID-19 are estimated at over USD 8 trillion.
• Current global food systems are inefficient and detrimental to health, contributing to a 70% increase in the global incidence of diabetes over the last twenty years by promoting the overconsumption of low-nutrition, processed foods.
• Climate change acts as a major public health threat by increasing risks of injuries, fatalities, mental health impacts, and mass migration, while also enabling the spread of infected mosquitoes to non-endemic countries.

APA

de Paula, N., & Willetts, E. (2021). COVID-19 and Planetary Health: How a Pandemic Could Pave the Way for a Green Recovery. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-03/still-one-earth-health.pdf

Chicago

de Paula, Nicole, and Elizabeth Willetts. COVID-19 and Planetary Health: How a Pandemic Could Pave the Way for a Green Recovery. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-03/still-one-earth-health.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Paula |first1=Nicole |last2=Willetts |first2=Elizabeth |title=COVID-19 and Planetary Health: How a Pandemic Could Pave the Way for a Green Recovery |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2021 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-03/still-one-earth-health.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{depaula2021covid19, author = {de Paula, Nicole and Willetts, Elizabeth}, title = {{COVID-19 and Planetary Health: How a Pandemic Could Pave the Way for a Green Recovery}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-03/still-one-earth-health.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }