The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) will be undertaking an
exploratory hearing on the environmental implications of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which could inform a future inquiry.
Environmental Audit Committee Chairman, , said:
“The global shutdown has seen dramatic temporary drops in
climate-changing emissions and harmful air pollution, but what
will the long-term implications of the pandemic be for the health
of our planet? In this hearing we will be looking at the
link between the pandemic and biodiversity loss, the UK’s food
security and the connection between air pollution and COVID-19
mortality rates.”
“Out of this ghastly pandemic there may be opportunities to
build back a greener, more resilient, climate-friendly economy.
We will be examining how stimulus spending could both boost
economic recovery and help us transition to a low-carbon
economy.”
The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent global shutdown have been
linked to a range of environmental issues – from the outbreak
being associated with environmental degradation and the wildlife
trade, to the shutdown impacting air quality and climate change.
While the precise source of the outbreak is yet to be determined,
it has been suggested that it emerged in bats and made its way to
humans via another wild animal host.
Approximately two thirds of emerging infectious diseases are
zoonotic - they jump from animals to humans - and a majority of
these have a wildlife origin such as other recent virus
outbreaks: Ebola, SARs and Zika virus. New diseases often emerge
as a result of humans disrupting ecological systems either
intentionally through development, or environmental change
through a warming climate. This could result in humans and
animals being bought into closer proximity making transmission
between species easier. There are concerns that if environmental
change continues at its current rate, the resulting impact on
human health could become even more severe.
In efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus, countries have
implemented shutdowns, limiting movement of people and closing
parts of their economies. Due to the measures that have been
taken, analysts predict that 2020 will see the largest single
year reduction in global CO2 on record, but this will still make
very little overall difference to climate change.
In this session the Committee will explore ideas the Government
could implement to prioritise economic recovery measures which
meet environmental objectives on the path to Net Zero Britain. It
shall hear from two panels of witnesses, expert in various
aspects on these themes:
Witnesses from 14:30
-
Professor Kate Jones, Chair of Ecology and Biodiversity
at University College London
-
Professor Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, Centre for
Food Policy, School of Health Sciences, City, University of
London
-
Professor Frank Kelly, Head of Department of Analytical,
Environmental and Forensic Sciences, Kings College
London
Witnesses from 15:30
-
Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary of United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
2010-2016
-
Professor Cameron Hepburn, Director of the Economic of
Sustainability Programme at the Oxford Martin School; Professor
of Environmental Economics at the Smith School of Enterprise
and the Environment; and Professorial Research Fellow at the
Grantham Research Institute at LSE
-
Mr Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer,
Aviva
