The first GROWINPRO documentary is out. How to implement a “green plan” to jumpstart a smart and inclusive growth in Europe
The world is facing an unprecedented crisis following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, as many academics and policy makers are pointing out, the global response to the crisis could inform the fight against the climate emergency.
The recovery plans that many countries are putting in place “should be focused on the green new deal strategy of lowering carbon emissions while also investing in workers, and making sure they can adapt to new technologies”, wrote Mariana Mazzucato, GROWINPRO researcher and director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, on the Guardian newspaper.
Last April, a letter endorsed by 17 European climate and environment ministers urged governments “not to lose sight of the persisting climate and ecological crisis, when working out how to spur the economy after the coronavirus pandemic”.
The first GROWINPRO short documentary, filmed before the outbreak of the pandemic and released today, focuses on the Green New Deal and on the policies that we need to implement in order to jumpstart a green, smart and inclusive growth.
Providing a comprehensive diagnostic of the climate emergency and of its consequences, as well as laying out a set of policy proposals to push Europe towards an innovation-fuelled growth is one of the core objectives of the GROWINPRO project and well in line with the actual European policies.
In 2019 two GROWINPRO studies published on Nature Climate Change and on Proceedings of National Academy of Science (PNAS) found, respectively, that climate-related damages can significantly affect the stability of the global financial system and that the cost of the economic damages caused by extreme natural disasters such as floods, storms, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts and wildfires have risen significantly over the last 50 years.
The documentary features interviews with Andrea Roventini, GROWINPRO’s coordinator, Mariana Mazzucato, GROWINPRO researcher and director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Energy Transition Commission.