Jonas Nahm testified (virtually) before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment on 23rd September, 2020. The testimony focused on the Green Recovery plans for the COVID-19 crisis. The research is being conducted at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) with ISEP’s support.

An Assistant Professor at SAIS and a Fellow at The Initiative, Professor Nahm offered three factors caution against optimism that the economic recession could trigger substantial shifts toward long-term decarbonization:

1. Emissions reductions during the current economic recession have been small and are unlikely to have a lasting impact on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Past recessions have been followed by rapid increases in emissions that have offset much of the downturn and the 2020 recession has begun to follow a similar pattern.
2. While economic stimulus spending in the recovery offers an opportunity to invest in long-term climate policies that also create jobs and deploy capital in the economy, G20 economies have thus far spent far less on programs with environmental co-benefits than in the aftermath of the 2009 recession. The overall amount is about 7 percent on each brown and green spending, compared to 16 percent green spending during the last recession.
3. The COVID-19 pandemic has further strained economic and political relationships with China, a key producer of technologies urgently needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the global economy. This is detrimental to short-term efforts to address the global climate crisis.

The full testimony document is available here.

The complete testimony video can be viewed here.