Investment In Green Infrastructure Can Kick-Start The Economy
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned everything upside down. The socio-economic benefits that people took for granted before are now being threatened, and the economic, infrastructure and environmental issues are now only too obvious to be ignored.
If you take a look at the recent UN reports, most of the ecosystems are rapidly declining. Even in the states of the first world countries like the US, the infrastructure is collapsing.
In Canada, the roads, bridges, and sewer systems that are there have been built right after the Second World War, and most of them (40%) are nearing their expiration dates.
Repairing infrastructure is not going to be easy. But as more importance is given toward economic recovery, communities are initiating to incorporate natural assets into their infrastructure planning while preserving and improving municipal services. It can save municipalities billions of dollars on investments.
Recovering the economy with natural assets
Natural assets, a subcategory of green infrastructure, are beneficial to people in the form of ecosystem services, including managing stormwater, controlling local climate, and curbing pollution.
They give societal, environmental, and economic benefits. Green infrastructure can help combat climate change, which is a major threat to cities all over the world.
It is estimated that the green infrastructure sector in Ontario alone adds more than $8 billion to their national economy and creates over 120,000 jobs.
If you look at Sweden, it has incorporated the city’s natural assets in the newest urban plan for Stockholm. The plan focuses on maintaining and strengthening green infrastructure, including parks and forests.
These assets will play a crucial role in surging climate change resilience and safeguarding the quality of life and health of its inhabitants.
Canada’s Gibsons, B.C. town has also integrated the local pond system into its municipal asset management plan. The ponds serve as a stormwater system. They store, clean, and filter water - altogether eliminating the need for storm sewers, bypass pipes, and other engineered infrastructure. It can save around $3.5 million to $4 million in costs. Moreover, natural assets can combat climate change by capturing carbon.
The Municipal Natural Assets Initiative has teamed up with Gibsons on its study of stormwater management. It is now trying to implement the same strategy in other communities across Canada and is aiding to solve the issues that local governments face in handling their natural assets. Investing in natural assets can benefit municipalities that are facing economic downfall due to higher expenditure and lower revenues from coronavirus.
Capitalizing on economic stimulus spending
When it comes to disaster management, one of its best practices is building back better to increase resilience at the community level as well as in the country. It can include investing in services and infrastructure.
Natural asset plans such as reforestation initiatives can bring about the required economic stimulus for recovery efforts. When nature-based solutions are implemented, it not only encourages ecosystem services, but it can curb down the financial costs of climate change, create job opportunities, increase resilience, and decrease poverty.
Spending in a green economic recovery can create 1.6m new jobs in Britain.
In the UK, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund has stated that the British government should prioritize spending on green projects. It will not only save the environment but create jobs and jumpstart the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
Boris Johnson, UK’S Prime Minister, has announced his plans to invest in projects worth £5bn to restart the nation’s economy. It includes bridges, roads, hospitals, and schools.
Though the country’s leader was criticized for not spending more on green projects, investing in a green economic recovery can create around 1.6m new jobs in the UK after the pandemic subsides.
While making a plan to create jobs and handle the climate emergency, IPPR said that 560,000 new job opportunities could be created by allocating more funds for the energy efficiency of homes. Around 700,000 employment opportunities can be created in social care, and 230,000 jobs can be created by making an investment in sustainable public transport, including electric vehicle charging points and walking and cycling infrastructure. It also added that around 46,000 jobs could be created, increasing the funding for peatland restoration and tree plantation.
Biden’s plan to tackle climate change can create millions of jobs.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has announced a revamped climate and energy plan that increases spending and efforts to deal with racial disparities and promises an earlier solution for cutting greenhouse gases. The plan aims to remove carbon pollution from the power sector by 2035.
Earlier, Biden had promised to achieve a 100% clean energy economy by 2050. Biden says that 40% of clean energy investments will be reserved for disadvantaged communities in the new trillion-dollar plan.
Together with his new plan, Biden has announced a separate plan to tackle the disparities created by pollution and climate change.
The environmental justice plan said that any solid energy and environmental policy should improve public health and economic opportunity for everyone in the US, be it the rural, urban, and suburban communities. It should also recognize that low-income communities and communities of color have faced more harm from climate change and environmental pollutants for years.
More than anything, the plan presents this aggressive climate action as a way to aid the country recover from the economic crisis that it is facing as a result of the pandemic.
Moreover, Biden anticipates 1 million new jobs can be created by investing in making electric vehicles and charging stations. Millions of union jobs can be created by investing in building greener infrastructure. He also plans to build sustainable new housing and upgrade millions of homes, which will create another million job opportunities. Plus, he has plans to invest in zero-emissions mass transportation.
It looks like Biden has ambitious plans both for the climate and the people of America. But in the end, it is the people’s votes that are going to determine what will happen to the environment and whether the economy will be recovered.
Wrap-Up
The entire world is in a upheaval after the recent pandemic. That said, from politicians to local influencers - everyone is trying to find a way out from this drastic situation.
And looking at all the instances and upcoming projects, it’s clear to see that investment in green infrastructure might just revive the economy.
Author Bio:
Richa Parmar is an architect and passionate in the field of designing & creativity. Her inclination towards nature has made her take up a lot of challenging assignments in the subject of “landscape” and also has made her initiate to write blogs. Presently she works as a Senior Manager cum Architect Blogger at GharPedia portal. You can reach her at LinkedIn.
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From the Living Architecture Academy
