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The We Mean Business coalition calls on governments to integrate climate action into economic recovery plans following the Covid-19 pandemic. Citing support from over 700 businesses, the statement advocates for prioritizing investments in clean power, electric mobility, zero-carbon infrastructure, and nature-based solutions to avoid future systemic shocks and create a sustainable labour market.

The author contends that Indonesia's COVID-19 recovery stimulus should shift away from fossil fuel support toward renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and decentralized energy systems to ensure long-term economic stability and climate resilience.

The report finds that implementing a portfolio of flexibility resources and market reforms could reduce electricity costs by up to 13% and carbon emissions by up to 17% in Tamil Nadu. Key opportunities include leveraging electric vehicle charging, agricultural pumping, and retrofitting coal plants to operate at lower technical minimums. The study emphasizes that while demand flexibility is often the lowest cost, a combined approach with storage and powerplant flexibility provides the highest system reliability and carbon benefits. Integration into a wider India-wide market could further reduce system costs by an additional 6%.

Energy Innovation modeled a subset of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis's recommendations, finding that these policies could reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030 and 89% by 2050. The analysis projects that net carbon dioxide emissions would reach zero by 2048, avoiding 62,000 premature deaths annually by 2050 and generating approximately $8 trillion in monetized health and climate benefits (at a 3% discount rate). The modeling covers sectors including electricity, transportation, buildings, industry, oil and gas, agriculture, and natural climate solutions, assuming a transition to 100% clean electricity by 2040 and 100% zero-emission vehicle sales for light-duty vehicles by 2035.

The document argues that Canada's post-pandemic reconstruction offers a historic opportunity to pivot toward a low-carbon economy. It outlines seven specific principles, or 'green strings,' to guide bailouts, stimulus, and recovery measures. These include requiring companies to develop net-zero plans, prohibiting stock buybacks and dividends for aid recipients, and ensuring a just transition for workers in high-carbon sectors. The report emphasizes that green stimulus can create as many jobs as neutral measures and calls for increased transparency, equity for Indigenous peoples, and the protection of environmental regulations during the recovery phase.

The document argues that Canada's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. It proposes seven 'green conditions' to guide government spending, including requiring companies to have net-zero plans, banning stock buybacks for aid recipients, and ensuring a just transition for workers. The report emphasizes that without deliberate conditions, recovery funds risk perpetuating unsustainable economic structures.

The report proposes a 'green stimulus' for the Caribbean focusing on distributed energy resources (DERs) to combat pandemic-related job losses and long-term economic vulnerability. It identifies solar PV, wind, electric vehicles (EVs), and energy efficiency as high-impact sectors for immediate employment. Beyond jobs, the document highlights how DERs improve resilience against hurricanes and economic shocks, while enabling economic diversification in sectors like agro-industry by lowering energy costs.

RMI proposes a green stimulus strategy for the United States focused on four pillars: a national building retrofit program, the electrification and diversification of mobility, debt forgiveness linked to emissions reductions, and the creation of a federal Economic Recovery Facility to finance clean projects.

Green banks are public or quasi-public entities designed to leverage public funds to attract private capital for low-carbon, climate-resilient investments. They address market gaps by reducing perceived risks for private investors through innovative financial tools, helping countries implement their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Examples include the UK Green Investment Bank, which leveraged £4 of private investment for every £1 of public funds, and Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which has invested in over 110 transactions to avoid an estimated 190 million tons of CO2.

The authors contend that EU stimulus plans must prioritize a zero-carbon future to avoid exacerbating climate risks. They highlight broad business support for this transition, citing various corporate coalitions and analysis suggesting that green projects offer higher short-term returns and more job creation than traditional stimulus. The statement calls for the strengthening of the European Green Deal, specifically targeting a 2030 emissions reduction of at least 55%, and recommends targeted investments in green infrastructure, innovation, and workforce reskilling.

The policy brief contends that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing vulnerabilities in the U.S. fossil fuel industry, making a fair transition for workers urgent. It advises against using federal stimulus for fossil fuel assets, suggesting instead that investments be directed toward low-carbon infrastructure, which creates more jobs per million dollars spent. The author proposes a four-part framework for a fair transition: accounting for automation and digitization, planning proactively across all carbon-intensive industries, recognizing that clean energy jobs may not be a direct replacement for all fossil fuel roles due to geographic and skill gaps, and employing bottom-up, community-led investment strategies.

The author contends that green stimulus is a useful tool for economic recovery but cannot replace the regulatory and pricing mechanisms necessary for deep emissions reductions. While infrastructure projects can create jobs and increase resilience, the specific nature of the COVID-19 recession—which hit service and education sectors harder than construction—means traditional 'shovel-ready' green projects may not address the root of the current economic crisis. The document emphasizes that climate action often provides economic and health benefits regardless of the economic cycle and warns against the notion that climate policy is only justifiable when linked to a crisis.

The author analyzes the impact of the HS 2022 amendments, which introduce specific six-digit trade codes for environmental goods and hazardous substances. By resolving the 'specificity problem'—where multiple products were previously grouped under a single code—these changes facilitate trade negotiations for tariff elimination, such as those under the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), and improve the collection of trade statistics for climate-relevant technologies like solar PV cells and electric vehicles.

The report analyzes the 2022 updates to the Harmonized System (HS), which provide more specific commodity codes for environmental goods and sensitive products. Key improvements include the separation of solar photovoltaic cells from LEDs and new codes for electronic waste. The author argues that such specificity is crucial for accurate trade statistics and the negotiation of trade agreements like the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS). The document also proposes a 'wish list' of further specifications for the 2027 HS revision, including electrolyzers, fuel cells, and electrified aircraft and ships.

The report examines the increasing need for energy resilience in the Upper Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado, following the 2018 Lake Christine Fire. It argues that traditional grid hardening and backup generators are insufficient and proposes a shift toward distributed energy resources (DERs) and community-centric planning. Through a partnership between Holy Cross Energy (HCE) and local stakeholders, the report identifies five priority resilience areas: community microgrids, bulk power supply flexibility, mobile generation fleets, gasoline pump resilience, and critical end-use efficiency. It emphasizes the need for 'blue sky' value—benefits during normal operations—to justify the cost of 'black sky' emergency investments and recommends new business models, such as split ownership and updated tariffs, to facilitate the deployment of clean energy resilience solutions.

The report analyzes seven European Green Capital (EGC) winners—Bristol, Ljubljana, Essen, Nijmegen, Oslo, Lisbon, and Lahti—across 12 environmental domains to establish 'threshold activities' necessary for reaching the EGC finals. Comparing these to Tallinn, the study finds that while Tallinn excels in air quality, green space proportion, and the use of green electricity in municipal buildings, it lags in CO2 emissions per capita, waste landfilling rates, and the formal adoption of strategic planning documents. Key findings highlight the importance of carbon neutrality targets by 2050, integrated sustainable mobility strategies, and the implementation of 'polluter pays' principles in waste management.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) finds that the average EV in the US produces global warming emissions equivalent to a gasoline vehicle achieving 88 mpg, making it cleaner than any new gasoline car available. This advantage is driven by the decreasing share of coal in the US electricity grid and improvements in EV efficiency, notably from the Tesla Model 3. The report highlights that 94% of the US population now lives in regions where an EV is cleaner than a 50 mpg gasoline car, compared to less than 50% in 2012.

The document analyzes a proposed $0.25 per gallon federal gas tax increase, finding it would generate approximately $1.1 trillion in revenue through 2050 and reduce total fuel consumption by over 1.3 billion barrels. The tax would incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles, adding roughly 2.5 million additional EVs to U.S. roads by 2050. Additionally, the report notes that a $0.25 gas tax is equivalent to a carbon tax of $25 to $29 per ton, which exceeds the record high allowance auction prices of the California-Quebec and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative cap-and-trade systems.

The report finds that while India has shifted resources toward clean energy since FY 2014, subsidies for fossil fuels remain over seven times larger than those for renewables and electric vehicles. Oil and gas subsidies rose by over 65% between FY 2017 and FY 2019, driven by higher oil prices and LPG use, while renewable energy subsidies fell by 35% in the same period. Electricity transmission and distribution subsidies doubled, primarily due to under-priced electricity for residential and agricultural users. Electric vehicle subsidies grew over 400-fold since FY 2014. A special analysis of coal indicates a massive net cost of INR 3,36,446 crore in FY 2018 when accounting for social costs like air pollution and GHG emissions, far outweighing tax revenues and charges.

EESI urges the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations to provide at least level funding for key Department of Energy (DOE) programs in FY2021. The testimony highlights the importance of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in achieving net-zero energy homes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D). Specific funding requests include at least $410 million for the Vehicle Technologies Program, $395 million for the Advanced Manufacturing Office, and $300 million for the Buildings Technologies Office, among others.