G20 Economies Have Tools for Green Recovery — They Just Aren’t Using Them Yet

The World Resources Institute (WRI) argues that G20 nations have failed to make their COVID-19 recovery spending environmentally sustainable, investing $262 billion in fossil fuels compared to $67 billion in clean energy. To address this, WRI introduces a typology of five policy levers—monetary policy, financial and real-economy policies and regulations, fiscal policy and budget support, public finance, and information instruments—to guide governments toward Paris-aligned investments. Analysis of recovery packages between March 1, 2020, and January 31, 2021, reveals a preference for 'business-as-usual' interventions and a critical lack of investment in climate adaptation and resilience.

• G20 countries' COVID-19 recovery responses heavily favored carbon-intensive investments over clean energy, with $262 billion allocated to fossil fuels and only $67 billion to clean energy.
• WRI identifies five primary policy levers available to governments for setting climate policy and aligning finance flows with the Paris Agreement: monetary policy, financial and real-economy policies and regulations, fiscal policy and budget support, public finance, and information instruments.
• An analysis of G20 recovery packages from March 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021, shows that countries used only a small subset of available Paris-aligned tools and preferred short-term, 'business-as-usual' interventions, such as liquidity support for carbon-intensive industries without climate conditions.
• There is a significant gap in climate adaptation and resilience within G20 recovery spending; only four countries explicitly included these elements in their packages, primarily focusing on the water, agriculture, and disaster risk management sectors.

APA

World Resources Institute (2021). G20 Economies Have Tools for Green Recovery — They Just Aren’t Using Them Yet. https://www.wri.org/insights/g20-economies-green-recovery-covid-19

Chicago

World Resources Institute. G20 Economies Have Tools for Green Recovery — They Just Aren’t Using Them Yet. 2021. https://www.wri.org/insights/g20-economies-green-recovery-covid-19.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=G20 Economies Have Tools for Green Recovery — They Just Aren’t Using Them Yet |date=11 November 2021 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/g20-economies-green-recovery-covid-19 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2021g20, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{G20 Economies Have Tools for Green Recovery — They Just Aren’t Using Them Yet}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/g20-economies-green-recovery-covid-19}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }