Environmental sustainability post-covid-19: Scrutinizing popular hypotheses from a social science perspective

Paul Lehmann, Silke Beck, Mariana Madruga de Brito, Erik Gawel, Matthias Groß, Annegret Haase, Robert Lepenies, Danny Otto, Johannes Schiller, Sebastian Strunz, Daniela Thrän

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is an increasingly vocal debate on potential long-term changes in environmental sustainability spurred by the global COVID-19 pandemic. This article scrutinizes the social science basis of selected popular hypotheses regarding the nexus between the COVID-19 pandemic and the societal transitions towards environmental sustainability. It presents results that were derived through an interdisciplinary dialogue among social scientists. First, it is confirmed that the COVID-19 crisis has likely created a potential window of opportunity for societal change. Yet, to ensure that societal change is enduring and actually supporting the transition towards environmental sustainability, a clear and well-targeted political framework guiding private investments and behavior is required. Second, it is emphasized that there are important structural differences between the COVID-19 crisis and environmental crises, like time scales. Consequently, many strategies used to address the COVID-19 crisis are hardly suitable for long-term transitions towards environmental sustainability. Third, it is argued that transitions towards environmental sustainability—building both on reducing environmental degradation and building socio-techno-ecological resilience—may create co-benefits in terms of preventing and coping with potential future pandemics. However, research still needs to explore how big these synergies are (and whether trade-offs are also possible), and what type of governance framework they require to materialize.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8679
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume13
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Aug 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Environment
  • Pandemic
  • Resilience
  • Social science
  • Societal change
  • Transition
  • Window of opportunity

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