Here’s why the world’s recovery from COVID-19 could be doughnut shaped

Progress on climate action and sustainability could be a significant casualty of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.

COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and Its Implications warns that "years of progress could be lost through underinvestment in infrastructure adaptation, withdrawals from previous commitments and weaker climate activism".

It also raises the alarm bell on a potential vicious cycle of "continued environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and further zoonotic infectious disease outbreaks”.

But incorporating green programmes into recovery plans presents an opportunity to rebuild better, changing the way industries operate. The Netherlands' biggest city offers an example of how this might work in practice.

An order of doughnuts

Amsterdam is embracing the so-called doughnut, an economic model that envisions “a world in which people and planet can thrive in balance”.

The brainchild of Kate Raworth, a senior research associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, the doughnut is a way of thinking about economics based on the priorities set out by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

One of its key aims is that no one should be left in the hole in the middle of the doughnut, falling short on the essentials of life. At the same time, humanity must live within the outside circle of the doughnut, ecological boundaries that aim to preserve the Earth’s resources.

The doughnut shape left in-between those two circles is the sweet spot – where everyone on the planet has a good social foundation and the Earth’s resources aren’t being overexploited. Striking this balance is in focus as the world begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and strives to find a way forward.

Tools for fostering sustainability, like the doughnut, will be important as officials grapple with the fallout from coronavirus, explains the COVID-19 Risks Outlook report.

Building back better

"Sustainability-focused stimulus packages by large economies, and potential changes in production models and consumer behaviours may support the sustainability agenda," explains the report. But, brown stimulus measures, cuts in investment and any weakening of climate commitments risk stalling progress.

So, as Kate Raworth explains, the need for approaches like that of the doughnut plan adopted by Amsterdam “could hardly be greater right now”. She believes that Amsterdam’s example could inspire many more places to better balance people’s basic needs with preserving planetary resources.

“As we all start thinking about how we will emerge from this crisis, let us seek to be holistic in how we reimagine and recreate the local-to-global futures of the places we live,” she says.