Designing the COVID-19 Recovery for a Safer and More Resilient World

This briefing by the World Resources Institute provides guidance for Ministries of Finance on integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation into COVID-19 economic recovery packages. It argues that aligning stimulus spending with climate goals can maximize long-term economic gains, create more jobs than traditional investments, and reduce future systemic risks.

• Aligning pandemic stimulus with climate goals can provide immediate social and health benefits, including reduced pollution, increased access to clean water, and rapid employment through labor-intensive activities.
• Investments in climate adaptation and resilient infrastructure offer significantly higher returns than traditional investments, with benefit-cost ratios for adaptation ranging from 2:1 to over 10:1 and resilient infrastructure typically exceeding 4:1.
• Green energy and nature-based solutions (NBS) have higher job creation potential than fossil fuels. In the US, $1 million invested in renewable energy or energy efficiency creates 7.5 to 7.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, compared to 2.7 FTE jobs for fossil fuels. NBS investments create an average of 39.7 FTE jobs per $1 million invested.
• Governments can use corporate bailouts to accelerate the energy transition by attaching efficiency and emissions targets to financial support, such as requiring higher fuel efficiency for automobiles or the early retirement of coal-fired power plants in exchange for utility assistance.
• The document recommends several regulatory and fiscal reforms, including maintaining environmental protections, implementing green public purchasing, reforming fossil fuel subsidies during periods of low oil prices, and introducing carbon taxes to raise revenue and signal a low-carbon future.
• To protect against future credit crises and sovereign risk, the briefing suggests that public support for banks and corporations be paired with climate-related stress testing and increased corporate disclosure of climate risks.

APA

World Resources Institute (2020). Designing the COVID-19 Recovery for a Safer and More Resilient World. https://www.wri.org/insights/designing-covid-19-recovery-safer-and-more-resilient-world

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Designing the COVID-19 Recovery for a Safer and More Resilient World. 2020. https://www.wri.org/insights/designing-covid-19-recovery-safer-and-more-resilient-world.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Designing the COVID-19 Recovery for a Safer and More Resilient World |date=14 May 2020 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/designing-covid-19-recovery-safer-and-more-resilient-world |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2020designing, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Designing the COVID-19 Recovery for a Safer and More Resilient World}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/designing-covid-19-recovery-safer-and-more-resilient-world}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }