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Worker safety in the U.S. was suffering from a slowdown in enforcement before the COVID-19 outbreak, and now it is cracking under the strain. In the latest development, the meatpacking industry has become a hotspot of infection, leading to plant closures and a ripple effect on livestock farmers and the nation’s food supply.

Meatpackers at high risk from COVID-19

Ominous signs in the meatpacking industry bubbled up earlier this month, when COVID-19 outbreaks began to emerge among workers. By April 22, infections had broken out in dozens of plants across the country.

The problem is partly related to the particular work environment in the meatpacking industry. Unlike other factories and food production facilities, meatpacking plants are not dominated by robots and automated machines. Human hands do much of the work, and employees are placed in close proximity along assembly lines.

In terms of COVID-19 transmission, the proximity factor can be exacerbated by long shifts of up to 10 or even 12 hours.

Another factor is the industry’s longstanding reputation for unsafe conditions, including the use of hazardous chemicals. In 2005, a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that “the increasing volume and speed of production coupled with close quarters, poor training and insufficient safeguards” contribute to poor health among meatpacking workers, potentially putting them at higher risk for COVID-19 impacts.

As recently as September 2019, HRW drew attention to conditions in the meatpacking industry, stating that “these workers have some of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness in the United States.”

Further complicating the situation is the location of major meatpacking operations in states that have failed to respond aggressively to the outbreak.

For example, one of the first major COVID-19 hotspots to emerge was at a Smithfield pork processing plant in South Dakota. The state has yet to issue any stay-at-home orders, even though the plant was closed earlier this month after almost 450 workers were infected. Similar circumstances leading to closures have occurred at plants that Tyson Foods and JBS operate.

The result has been a perfect storm of disease transmission. Meatpacking workers are at constant risk of exposure to COVID-19 both inside the factory and in their communities as well — and in turn, these workers can also become vectors in communities that are not strictly observing social distance precautions.

Reporters Dianne Gallagher and Pamela Kirkland of CNN took a deep dive into the issue on April 27 and noted that at least 13 processing plants have closed in recent weeks, reducing the nation’s pork and beef slaughter capacity by 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively. The poultry industry has also been hit hard by this pandemic.

Gallagher and Kirkland also concluded that the problem will likely become cyclical as factories reopen without adequate testing and protection, only to experience another outbreak.

Pleading for leadership on COVID-19

Last weekend the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Disease Control finally issued “interim” COVID-19 guidance for the meatpacking industry and its workers.

In a press release dated April 26, the two agencies explained that “close contact with coworkers and supervisors may contribute” to worker exposure.

However, the OSHA-CDC guidance relies partly on social distancing in the workplace, which is ineffective unless meatpacking plants are modified to accommodate far fewer workers.

In addition, the guidance also relies on screening and protective equipment, two areas in which a lackluster federal response caught the nation as a whole almost completely unprepared to respond effectively. Until an efficient system of testing and contact tracing is established, meatpacking plants are at greater risk of infection.

Coincidentally or not, over the weekend Tyson also issued a public statement. It placed a full page advertisement in the New York Times and other leading publications, warning that the nation’s food supply chain is vulnerable and is, in fact, breaking.

Though Tyson did not go so far as to claim that the nation will actually run out of meat, the company did state that "there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed.”

More to the point, Tyson pleaded for national unity on COVID-19 response.

“The government bodies at the national, state, county and city levels must unite in a comprehensive, thoughtful and productive way to allow our team members to work in safety without fear, panic or worry,” the company stated.

“The private and public sectors must come together. As a country, this is our time to show the world what we can do when working together,” Tyson added.

Where is the leadership?

That’s quite an ask, considering that the President has been working diligently in the opposite direction. In addition to failing to prepare a national healthcare and prevention plan in advance of the outbreak, failing to organize a medical supply chain, and ignoring the guidance of epidemiologists and public health professionals, he has also feuded with governors over stay-at-home orders, encouraged protestors to violate stay-at-home orders, and forced states to compete against each other — and the federal government — for scarce supplies.

As for the public and private sectors working together, the president failed to exercise his authority under the Defense Production Act in a timely manner before the outbreak took hold, forcing CEOs like GM’s Mary Barra to plot their own course.

In this context, it’s worth nothing that Tyson did adopt a number of COVID-19 response measures long before OSHA and CDC issued any public guidance.

The company began its efforts as early as January, with the establishment of a COVID-19 task force. It continued to step up its efforts in the following months. The outbreaks occurred regardless, at Tyson and elsewhere in the meatpacking industry.

As Tyson itself makes the case, clearly individual corporations are no substitute for a coordinated federal response that engages the public at every level in a common cause.

Nevertheless, the President’s response to the meat situation has been, well, predictable.

After failing to take action earlier this month, yesterday evening the President was reportedly expected to sign an executive order compelling meatpacking plants to remain in operation, while absolving them of liability for workers who contract COVID-19.

The President reportedly worked with Tyson on the order. If that is so, it will be interesting to see if the order is consistent with the company’s public statement of just a few days ago.

“We’ve remained true to our core values, especially by continuing our focus on providing a safe work environment for our team members,” Tyson’s statement concluded.

Corporations plan, but COVID-19 decides

Liability or not, it is unclear if any meatpacking plants will be able to function consistently in regions where members of the public fail to practice social distancing, putting workers at risk for new waves of infection in their communities.

Worker ranks may also be thinned in consideration of employees who have underlying medical conditions or other risk factors, or those who live in households with at-risk residents.

Until the President puts COVID-19 response in the hands of experienced professionals, Tyson and other companies — and their workers — will face an uncertain future.

Image credit: Pexels

By now, we have all seen the photos showing how food banks across the U.S. are overwhelmed as the novel coronavirus continues to spread. Meanwhile, countless businesses have shut down and could disappear for good, except for groceries and pharmacies, many of which are preoccupied with their own struggles. As more citizens lose their jobs and families are threatened by food insecurity, the problem isn’t a lack of food: vegetables keep growing and cows still need to be milked. But the U.S. food supply is in disarray and families are going hungry because farmers and food distribution companies can’t change course fast enough – and the amount of capital required to launch such a shift imposes its own threat of financial run.

Fresh food is destroyed as families confront hunger

“The widespread destruction of fresh food — at a time when many Americans are hurting financially and millions are suddenly out of work — is an especially dystopian turn of events, even by the standards of a global pandemic,” wrote David Yaffe-Bellany and Michael Corkery earlier this month for the New York Times. “It reflects the profound economic uncertainty wrought by the virus and how difficult it has been for huge sectors of the economy, like agriculture, to adjust to such a sudden change in how they must operate.”

One would assume volunteers could band together, mobilize and gather that food and then distribute it to families in need. But it’s not that simple: About half of the produce U.S. farmers grow is for restaurants, which are either closed or only doing a sliver of business with takeout or delivery orders. As one spouse of a Fresno County farmworker told the Sacramento-based news site Cal Matters, “but who is going to pick it?” For most farmers and dairies, the alternative is to dump excess milk or plow those unwanted vegetables back into the soil. The economic collapse due to the massive disruption throughout the U.S. food supply is a painful gut punch: losses for farmers could approach close to $700 million between March and May of this year.

The more grisly stories come from the meat and egg industries, where producers have smashed eggs so they won’t become chickens or euthanize pigs as some of the largest meatpacking producers in the U.S. close down due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

Local efforts desperately try to keep the U.S. food supply afloat

Granted, heroic efforts are accelerating nationwide as nonprofits, food banks and volunteers work with farmers to do their best so they can help food banks keep up with demand, action we can see from Houston to Wyoming to upstate New York. Meanwhile, more small farmers are pivoting to stay afloat, whether they launch community-supported agriculture (CSA) schemes on the fly or they transform former roadside produce stands into drive-thru businesses. One egg ranch outside of the Central California town of Clovis saw the number of customers surge from 80 to 500 a day.

Photo: A volunteer sorts vegetables at a Feeding America-affiliated food bank in Hawaii (Feeding America/Facebook)

To their credit, players in the sports and entertainment industry, one sector that has screeched to a halt during this crisis, has seen plenty of leaders step up. The efforts range from football’s Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise supporting local efforts to distribute boxes of food to families in need, to the NBA San Antonio Spurs’ CEO offering his assistance to a massive local food bank operation. The entertainment community is chipping in as well. On the business side, companies as starkly different as Beyond Meat and Hormel are donating what they can as well.

But no matter how noble, sincere and tireless these individual efforts are, the reality is that each of these maneuvers are akin to wielding small butter knives trying to fight back against what is in comparison is an AK-47 assault on the U.S. food supply.

As the federal government flails, a grocer takes command

To that end, many farmers and some members of Congress want the federal government to step in and buy agricultural products that would otherwise go to waste – an effort these advocates say would help keep these vital cogs in the U.S. food supply chain solvent while allowing this food to go to where it’s needed most. Such a move makes sense: after all, the federal government has a presence everywhere, including rural areas, and could theoretically even deploy the military to manage the logistics of such an operation. Based on the federal government’s constant dithering in the midst of this crisis, however, such a 180-degree turn is unlikely.

One company showing how to gather food industry stakeholders in order to get things done is the grocery chain Publix. The Florida-based retailer announced last week an initiative that would buy dairy products and fresh produce from farmers, and then turn around and donate them to Feeding America member food banks across the southeastern U.S. The company can certainly point to its legacy as it puts its credibility behind this plan – since 2009, Publix said it has donated $2 billion in food to citizens and need and plans to double that amount over the upcoming decade. This is a program other retailers may want to emulate – and it sends a signal to the feds that it’s time to get their act together.

Image credit: Pixabay

In times of crisis, people look to leaders for reassurance. And while some CEOs have stayed silent, continuing to collect seven-figure salaries and mind their bottom lines even as their employees face layoffs or feel unsafe coming to work, we've seen truly inspirational leadership from purpose-driven executives across the U.S. These CEOs are leading with vulnerability and authenticity, being straightforward about what they know and what they don't, and putting people and communities before profit.

If you need some help restoring your faith in humanity, read on for a dozen standouts that crossed our desks over the past month. 

Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner 

Commissioner Adam Silver (pictured above) moved to suspend the 2020 NBA season within minutes of the first player testing positive for the new coronavirus, at a cost of more than a billion dollars. Since then, at least 15 others in the league have tested positive, indicating Silver's early action prevented the virus from spreading even further among players, staff and fans. He spoke with humility about the decision in a March interview with CBS Sports. 

"The decision then, in retrospect, most would argue events made it for me, but it seemed in that moment the right thing to do was to suspend the operation of the season," Silver said. 

When asked whether he believed the season could continue this year, he replied: "We're gonna try by every means we can to play basketball again, but the safety and health of our players and fans is first, so I don't want to speculate more than that. That will be the condition of how much we can play — when public health officials give us the okay."

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks

Days after Silver announced the suspension of the NBA season, business mogul and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he would continue to pay all stadium employees indefinitely. Cuban, who has been a leading voice for a science-based, people-first business response to the pandemic, offered a refreshing perspective on his decision in an April interview with WBUR, Boston's NPR News Station. 

"The CEO is of no more importance than somebody cleaning the floors," Cuban said. "I think that this is a time as a reset where we really have to reevaluate how we treat workers, how people are paid, how can we get them into a role where they receive an equity as part of their compensation, so that they're not having to live paycheck to paycheck, they have something that appreciates. All these things I think are important as we go through this reset in business.

"How you treat your employees today will have more impact on your brand in future years than any amount of advertising, any amount of anything you literally could do," he continued. "Because, again, we're all suffering from this. Every single person is looking to see how their company is treating them, how their employers are treating family members and friends."

Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP

Senior citizens are at far higher risk of developing serious complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As the most powerful U.S. advocacy group for seniors, AARP responded right away — providing locally-based coronavirus resources for older Americans, helping them guard against fraudsters targeting their stimulus payments, and advocating for reform in nursing homes, many of which have been reportedly lax in their communication to worried loved ones during the crisis.

CEO Jo Ann Jenkins, who Black Enterprise named as one of its most powerful women in corporate America, elaborated on that last point in an open letter.

"The lack of transparency from the nation's nursing homes is nothing short of outrageous," Jenkins wrote. "We all know that COVID-19 is especially dangerous for older people, particularly those with underlying conditions. Those living in close quarters are even more susceptible. But there's no reason nursing home residents should be made more vulnerable because they and their loved ones weren't kept informed or provided an easy way to stay in touch."

Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco

As we profiled on 3p this week, Cisco moved quickly to deploy its people and resources across three critical areas of need: education, healthcare and humanitarian aid. As of last month, the more than $200 million it committed was the second largest donation worldwide in response to COVID-19. While speaking with Bloomberg about how the coronavirus is affecting Cisco's business, CEO Chuck Robbins kept bringing the conversation back to the impact on others, particularly the most vulnerable. 

"The big thing we are really worried about — beyond our customers, beyond our employees — are our communities," Robbins said. "We see what is happening with our homeless communities, with what is happening when we are one financial crisis away from being on the streets. This is what we have to focus on right now." 

Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks 

In late January, Starbucks shuttered 80 percent of its stores in China to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The lessons it learned armed the company for a swift and decisive response in the U.S.

In mid-March, as state and local governments began implementing stay-at-home orders, Starbucks announced it would continue to pay employees for 30 days — whether they worked or not. Employees whose stores remained open for drive-thru and delivery and who felt comfortable coming to work received a $3 per hour raise. CEO Kevin Johnson detailed the mindset behind the decision in an appearance on CNBC’s "Squawk on the Street" on March 24: 

"I believe it's the responsibility of every business leader to care for the employees during this time of uncertainty, shared sacrifice and common cause," he told CNBC's Jim Cramer. "Not every decision is a financial one. This is a time to prioritize people over profit."

Beth Ford, CEO of Land O’ Lakes

As demand for grocery staples surges across the U.S., employees at food processing facilities such as those operated by Land O' Lakes are considered essential workers. Beth Ford, who took the helm of the farmer-owned cooperative in 2018, says she continues to focus on the health and wellbeing of employees — including through increased wages, added benefits like extended sick and childcare leave, and enhanced safety measures that ensure social distancing. 

“Where you learn a lot is if you listen to your employees,” Ford told Twin Cities Business, which reports on business news in the company's home state of Minnesota. “What are their concerns? Then you try to mitigate those concerns. That, I think, is the most important thing for us.”

David Cordani, CEO of Cigna

Cigna was the first insurer to commit to covering all costs related to coronavirus testing and treatment — including hospitalizations, future medications and future vaccines — both in and out of network. It was later joined by Humana. CEO David Cordani elaborated further in a March 30 appearance on "Squawk on the Street." 

"In a time of crisis, which is what we confront right now, we're telling ourselves to step forward and help our customers, help our patients, and provide them peace of mind," Cordani said. "We're stepping in to help customers, and in this case as we step back and see individuals fighting the health challenge, we wanted to take the financial burden off their docket." 

Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

In March, AMD transitioned all 10,000 of its employees to remote work, managing to execute sophisticated engineering tasks from a distance. Employees who cannot work due to health or family challenges continue to receive full pay. The company also stepped up to donate $15 million worth of high-performance computing systems to research institutions working on treatments and vaccines. Lisa Su, one of very few women of color to lead an S&P 500 company, confirmed her commitment to action in a recent interview with CRN Magazine. 

"AMD remains focused on providing strong and unwavering support to our employees, customers and the communities around the world we call home," Su said. "We look forward to continued partnership and shared resilience as we persevere and become a stronger global community." 

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

This pandemic hits especially close to home for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. His 23-year-old son, Zain, has cerebral palsy, which weakens his immune system and puts him at increased risk for serious complications if he were to contract the new coronavirus. As he helps one of the world's largest technology companies navigate disruptions caused by the pandemic, Nadella's son is always on his mind, he told the Seattle Times. And he got real in a lengthy email sent to employees in March, as reported by the Times. 

“We are in uncharted territory,” Nadella wrote. “Much is unknown, and I know how unsettling and uncertain this feels. Like many of you, there have been times over the past weeks where it has felt overwhelming and all-encompassing for me. I worry about the health and safety of my family, my co-workers and friends. My wife and I worry for her aging parents, who are far away from us in India."

“One truth that brings me comfort is, just as this virus has no borders, its cure will have no borders,” he continued. “We are all in this together as a global community. For me, the best way I’ve found to get past this anxiety is to focus on what I can do each day to make a small difference. Each of us, wherever we are, has the opportunity to do the same — take an action driven by hope, a small step that makes things a bit better. And if everyone does something that makes the world a bit better, our collective work will in fact make the world a lot better, for the people we love, for our communities, for society.”

Claudio Del Vecchio, CEO of Brooks Brothers

On March 30, Brooks Brothers announced it would transition its three U.S. factories from producing shirts and ties to surgical masks and medical gowns for frontline healthcare workers. CEO Claudio Del Vecchio explained the move on "Squawk on the Street" a day later. 

"Our priority is the health and safety of our people and our customers," Del Vecchio said. "We are celebrating our 202nd birthday, and through many of those years we had to go through a lot of challenges. We had a couple of world wars and the [Great] Depression, and we came out of all of those things pretty well, thanks to the support of our customers. That's why we wanted to go out and support our customers and the communities who have supported us for so many years."

Omar Ishrak, CEO of Medtronic

Among other things, medical device company Medtronic produces ventilators — which are needed for patients who are seriously ill with COVID-19. Medtronic is working with other companies to increase its production of ventilators by 40 percent, and it open-sourced the design schematics for one of its ventilator models so it can be produced by any company in order to meet demand. CEO Omar Ishrak offered a message of solidarity and reassurance in an open letter to customers and patients. 

"The world is facing an unprecedented human challenge with COVID-19, and this virus requires an unprecedented response," he wrote. "We will never compromise our integrity and, like we have done for seven decades, we will put the patient’s needs at the forefront of our decision-making. We will not raise prices or pit one customer against another in a bidding process for these critical products.... We know this virus can and will be defeated, and we will do our utmost to make that a reality."

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple

Apple closed its 42 stores in China in January in response to the coronavirus. In mid-March, it did the same in the U.S., shuttering stores from coast to coast in an attempt to slow the spread. The company continues to pay retail employees as if stores were open. And, after initially leaving contract workers like janitors and shuttle bus drivers out of its compensation plans, the company pivoted and said they, too, would continue to receive full pay during the shutdowns. CEO Tim Cook explained further in a company statement. 

"This global effort — to protect the most vulnerable, to study this virus, and to care for the sick — requires all of our care, and all of our participation," he wrote. "We do not yet know with certainty when the greatest risk will be behind us. And yet I have been inspired by the humanity and determination I have seen from all corners of our global community. As President Lincoln said in a time of great adversity: 'The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.'”

Image credit: Mayo Clinic/Flickr

In an ideal match of skills to crisis, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) has offered its temporarily laid off cabin crew the chance to volunteer to support front-line medical workers in the fight against COVID-19. The move has been wildly popular among SAS employees as other airlines have followed suit. As many businesses ponder how to support relief efforts, airline crews, with their safety and emergency training, can make a unique contribution.

In mid-March, SAS, partly owned by the governments of Sweden and Denmark, laid off 10,000 staff - 90 percent of its workforce - to cut costs as air travel screeched to a halt. SAS recognized that its furloughed crew could be easily trained to help on the front lines of the pandemic, according to Karin Nyman, Vice President Brand & Communications at SAS. So, the airline offered employees the chance to take a three-day course in basic hospital duties to help fill the gaps in a strained Swedish healthcare system.

Hundreds of employees eager to retrain

The response was overwhelming, with some 500 employees applying for different types of jobs as part of the program. While it started in Sweden, employees in Denmark and Norway have also been offered a chance to join. “When we were about to do these temporary lay-offs, we contacted healthcare and elderly care organizations and asked if they would need some help. We got a very positive response. We were able to quickly set up training that was suited for our cabin crew who already receive as part of their job training an introductory course in caregiving and other skills that are needed in a crisis situation,” Nyman told TriplePundit.

Sweden, with a population of 10.2 million people, has so far had 18,926 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 2,274 deaths from the virus. With its lack of strict lockdowns, Sweden has taken a decidedly different, and controversial approach to its neighbors; the virus has been nearly 10 times as deadly in Sweden as in other Nordic countries.

“What has been really good to see in this is that there is a big attraction for SAS employees because people recognize that they have a very high level of service and are trained for a special crisis moment such as this,” she continued. “We’ve gotten feedback from several companies we have been supporting that our employees’ support has been very helpful. For us, it is amazing to see how quickly our employees transform and are able to use their skills in the health sector.”

According to Nyman, SAS is now receiving requests for their employees to pitch in to help in the pharmacy and logistics sectors, as well assisting at schools and with first responders like ambulance crews. “While we hope to be up in the air very soon, we are trying to be a facilitator between our employees and different organizations in society that have a big need in these difficult times.”

Other airlines take the same route as SAS

The fast-track healthcare course offered by Sweden’s Sophiahemmet University is mainly delivered online to comply with social distancing rules. The curriculum focuses on providing basis like theoretical knowledge about infectious diseases, patient confidentiality, hygiene and nursing methods, how to deliver information to patients and relatives and carry out administrative tasks. The course is free of charge and the companies involved with the training are not seeking to make a profit. Funding, about 7 million Swedish crowns ($698,000) is provided by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation.

Nyman said SAS has been contacted by other airlines about the program “and we’re happy to share about how we’ve set it up,” she added. In the United Kingdom, some flight attendants for EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic have volunteered to help out at the new National Health Service (NHS) hospitals being set up specifically for coronavirus patients. Singapore Airlines, which suspended virtually all of its flights until May 2020, has asked its flight attendants to assist in hospitals during this period as well. Similar initiatives to lend a hand are being explored in the U.S. as well, as Julie Hedrick, the national president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, told NPR recently.

Untapped skills linger among the unemployed

But why stop with flight attendants with such a dire need for support on the front lines of the pandemic? Raj Panjabi, CEO of the NGO Last Mile Health, which brings primary care services to people living in remote communities, sees a potential army in the millions of Americans unemployed by the pandemic.

“What if Americans who are unemployed by the pandemic could be hired to fight it?” he recently wrote in an op-ed for the World Economic Forum. “Around the world, local residents without a medical or nursing degree have been rapidly trained, hired, and equipped to respond to other epidemics that have spiraled out of control…We could rapidly expand our healthcare teams by investing in the people closest to the problem – hiring and training the millions of people put out of work by the epidemic.”

Panjabi suggests that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments can work with universities to develop rapid online programs to train the millions of Americans currently out of work in their own homes. Last Mile Health has since launched similar online and mobile training programs globally.

As U.S. companies grapple with historic unemployment and the quickly fading prospect of returning to business-as-usual, it might be time to see the American workforce—and their untapped skills—in a new light. 

Image credit: SAS

The U.S. wind and solar power industries have emerged as key job creators in recent years, and both industries are scrambling to shield their workers from the economic havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortunately, federal policymakers have not prioritized green jobs, at least not yet. Nevertheless, several states have stepped in to take action that could help reduce the impact and position renewable energy for rapid recovery.

Green jobs are more than clean jobs

The COVID-19 crisis has added a new level of life-or-death urgency to the global decarbonization effort. Evidence is mounting that groups disproportionately impacted by pollution — specifically, low income communities and communities of color — are at higher risk of death from the novel coronavirus. And, they are more likely to be co-located with sources of pollution including power plants, refineries, landfills and highways.

The hard evidence is incomplete, but so far the available data shows that African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans face a significantly higher risk of death than Caucasians from COVID-19 in the U.S.

Researchers at Harvard University have also linked exposure to pollution with a higher risk of death from COVID-19, and Scientific American cites other studies noting significant racial and economic disparities linked to increased exposure to environmental hazards.

Green jobs for healthy communities

The Natural Resources Defense Council has called attention to the need to support clean technology workers during the crisis, and take steps to rebuild the nation’s roster of green jobs as quickly as possible.

On a state-by-state basis, some of those steps are already under way. 

Renewables-friendly Massachusetts, for example, was already acting to increase green job opportunities before the COVID-19 crisis hit in force, partly with job-creating grants to local governments through its existing “Green Communities” program.

On April 15, as the outbreak took a grip across the nation, the state doubled the capacity of its solar incentive program to a total of 3,200 megawatts. The update also provides more leeway for projects in low-income communities.

Another example is New York State, which has paused all non-essential clean energy work under the state’s COVID-19 shutdown, but has extended the completion deadline for projects under its NY-Sun solar affordability program.

Interestingly, the U.S. Department of Energy is also working to support green jobs during the crisis. Last fall the agency redesigned and restarted an Obama-era program aimed at establishing access to community solar power for every household by 2025. The program is currently moving forward with an informational webinar scheduled for today.

Green jobs to support displaced workers

So far, the full impact of green job losses has struck mainly at the smaller end of the clean technology scale, as property owners cancel or stall rooftop solar, weatherization and other energy improvements on buildings. Those jobs may be expected to return as stay-at-home orders are lifted and the economy recovers.

In contrast, job losses in the fossil fuel sector may be permanent. Large scale wind and solar projects in the U.S. are expected to continue without significant delays, adding more clean power to the grid and squeezing coal and gas aside.

The potential for greening the energy workforce was outlined by Bloomberg columnist Liam Denning on March 20. The U.S. coal industry was already on the ropes years before the COVID-19 outbreak, and Denning notes that the oil and gas industry also began losing “easy access” to capital before the virus struck.

He foresees that a recovery in the oil and gas sector will involve trimming payrolls down to the bone. Moreover, many jobs will be concentrated geographically, where extraction activities take place.

In contrast, Denning makes the case for the Green New Deal model, in which construction jobs related to electrification, energy efficiency and renewable energy are distributed all across the country.

“In broad terms, one side of the energy industry busies itself primarily with digging stuff out of the ground while the other concerns itself more with planting stuff in the ground,” he explains. “If one result of COVID-19 is that America finally gets around to infrastructure week, then the latter should enjoy a working advantage.”

Denning cites utilities as natural allies in the push for green jobs. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity in buildings and cars is a plus for the power generation business.

There are other key partners as well, in the form of corporate support for clean power. Business sector interest in renewable energy predates the COVID-19 outbreak and has accelerated in recent years. If anything, the outbreak has demonstrated that ESG investing — including clean power — is a powerful bottom line tool for weathering a crisis as well as growing a sustainable business.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) controls the flow of federal legislation, so the prospects for a federal green jobs program are still months away at best. In the meantime, business leaders can work with state-level officials to help displaced workers financially while they sustain the decarbonization trend as the nation picks up the pieces after COVID-19.

Image credit: Unsplash

During any time of crisis, companies can best respond with this effective one-two punch: First, leverage their core competencies for good; and second, harness the power of partnerships, in any form, that they already have forged with other organizations. Cisco Systems offers a template for how other businesses in any sector can direct their resources to offer society a lift during this ongoing pandemic.

Over the past several weeks, Cisco has deployed its people and resources across three critical areas of need: education, healthcare and humanitarian aid.

Well-positioned to assist with remote learning, Cisco has delivered

The vast array of partnerships that Cisco has been able to develop over the years has positioned the company well when it came time to help students and teachers as they quickly adjusted from classroom to remote learning. One example of how Cisco’s philanthropic efforts have paid off is seen in the work of MIND Research Institute, a California-based nonprofit that develops software games to help schoolchildren grasp mathematical concepts. One of MIND Research’s applications, ST Math, includes over 35,000 games and puzzles, which the organization in turn says has helped boost students’ math scores across 13 U.S. states.

Cisco’s financial support has also helped MIND Research deploy a new platform just in time for this new reality of students having to learn from home. Further, the use of Cisco’s technology is also integral for the nonprofit's operations. According to MIND Research’s CEO, Brett Woudenberg, the nonprofit’s technology team is currently integrating the ST Math program within the Cisco Webex platform. In turn, parents who have seen their children benefit from this program have been moved to donate funds so that other students can benefit. “We’ve had tons of families pay it forward and provided donations as a way of saying thanks, which has been fantastic,” Woudenberg said during an interview with Cisco’s Stacey Faucett last week.

Another nonprofit that has received a Cisco grant, TalkingPoints, has helped support families with homeschooling through translation made possible by artificial intelligence. TalkingPoints’ technology allows teachers to send a message to their students’ parents, which the program can translate into approximately 100 languages. Family members can respond to the teachers in their native language, which the teacher can then read in English. “Even when parents don’t have internet or computers, parents can usually connect with teachers through mobile phones,” said Heejae Lim, founder and CEO of Talking Points. “Our multilingual family engagement platform uses AI to get rid of language barriers to help keep everyone connected.”

Seed funding for startups can pay big dividends during a healthcare crisis

Cisco is in the midst of its fourth annual Global Problem Solver Challenge, which provides $350,000 in seed money to recent graduates who exhibit an entrepreneurial streak combined with ideas that can disrupt technologies. A runner-up in the company’s 2017 competition, OminVis, is now on the front lines helping to fill the gap in available personal protective equipment (PPE) that U.S. healthcare workers are still confronting.

At the startup’s launch, it developed a tool that can detect cholera in water samples in as little as as 30 minutes. Since then, that technology has adapted to help respond to this pandemic’s dire needs. Currently, OmniVis is manufacturing 3D-printed face masks that can protect healthcare workers’ faces, no matter what shape or size. The startup says it is now searching for partners to both test this product at a wider scale and also to manufacture this “OmniMask” at a higher volume.

Photo: OmniVis' Jordan Florian working on the design of the company's OmniMask. (Photo courtesy Cisco Systems/3BL Media)

Hence the lessons that Cisco’s relationship with OmniVis can teach any company: A competition or grant program targeted at entrepreneurs can reap benefits quickly, not only from a crisis management perspective, but for that same company’s brand reputation as well.

In addition to Cisco’s philanthropic legacy, the company’s array of technology services is giving a lift to healthcare systems during this crisis. To that end, the company is now offering two equipment packages to healthcare organizations at no cost. The Cisco Pandemic Equipment Brokerage program provides new or refurbished networking equipment to healthcare groups that suddenly have the need due to the COVID-19 crisis. Another package, the Cisco Healthcare Rapid Response Network Bundle, delivers networking kits for pop-up clinics and rapid response healthcare teams across the globe.

In the meantime, as shelter in place orders worldwide puts the mental health of some citizens at risk, Cisco’s Webex is answering the call — literally — in San Francisco. The city’s suicide prevention agency is relying on the conferencing platform to connect those in dire need an outlet with employees and volunteers who can safely help from their homes – timely as the number of inbound calls for help have increased 30 percent since the pandemic started.

Continuing to support humanitarian crises abroad

Cisco’s information technology, networking and cybersecurity services have been instrumental in modernizing humanitarian aid responses for more than 15 years. The company’s support of these nonprofits has continued; but these organizations’ missions have pivoted rapidly as the world turned upside down for billions of people worldwide. For example, Cisco has worked with the microlender Kiva since 2015. The company’s routers, switches and VOIP technology help Kiva dispense seed funding worldwide. Now, in the U.S., the nonprofit is providing larger loan amounts, more flexible repayment plans and widened eligibility rules for financing. Another one of Cisco’s nonprofit partners, Opportunity International, has witnessed a similar surge in demand.

Cisco’s technology is also one key to the ongoing support of Global Citizen, the advocacy group that deploys online activism in its quest to end extreme poverty by 2030. The company has signed onto a three-year commitment to provide online technology platforms and support for Global Citizen’s broadcast events, the most recent of which tallied up 270 million viewers.

According to Cisco’s CEO, Chuck Robbins, the company’s commitment of cash and resources will total at least $225 million — and on top of that, the company says it has encouraged its 77,000 employees to do what they can to assist its various community partners. “Many of us are adjusting to working from home and social distancing while all of us are working to understand this new normal,” Robbins wrote last month on Cisco’s blog. “Through all this, one thing has become clear – Cisco must, and will, do even more to help others respond to this global pandemic.”

Image credit: Cisco Systems/Facebook

Companies planning how to reopen safely for business in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis are considering digital tools to track their employees’ health status. But without adequately protecting data privacy, such moves could backfire. The specter of a surveillance economy and “Big Brother” loom large in certifying who is a “safe” worker.

One suggestion of how to do this sensibly comes from MIT Professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland, a prominent data scientist who co-leads the World Economic Forum’s Big Data and Personal Data initiatives. In a recently published white paper, Pentland argues that digital identity could certify users’ health status while safeguarding their sensitive health data. He proposes that hospitals, credit unions, banks, and other civic institutions serve as repositories for people’s health data, much as they already do for their financial and other personal information. This would form the basis of citizens’ “digital identity,” and would determine their ability to work and perform other activities.

Keeping personal data in local institutions that already have a “need to know” or are under direct citizen control would tackle privacy concerns and avoid the creation of national or state-wide registries, as these are tempting targets for misuse, according to Pentland. Health certification could be easily integrated into the digital identity infrastructure that is already used for authenticating payments and help decide what sort of businesses are safe to reopen, and make contact tracing more efficient, without jeopardizing personal privacy.

“With this kind of digital identity, people can certify their health status to merchants and employers in the same way their credit card or identity is verified,” Pentland said in a press release. “They can also see which places are safe to go—for instance, places that are uncrowded or recently cleaned, and where customer-facing employees are infection-free, all without compromising their personal privacy.”

Photo: Under a proposed digital health ID, employees in public-facing positions could be certified as safe, inspiring consumer confidence. (Image credit: Irina/Unsplash)

Privacy advocates on alert

For privacy advocates who have viewed with concern how other countries have been implementing technology to track citizen health in the wake of COVID-19, this may sound too good to be true. China, for instance, has alarmed human rights advocates with the rollout of its software surveillance for the COVID-19 pandemic. There is little transparency about how the Chinese government is using personal data to sort people into various categories of health status, ABC News reported, leading to possible abuses. Other Asian countries like South Korea, China and Taiwan also didn’t bother to seek permission from individuals before tracking their cellphones to identify suspected coronavirus patients.

In Europe and the U.S., with stricter privacy laws and expectations, it’s a different story. While the European Union sees digital mapping to track coronavirus contacts as key to lifting Europe’s lockdown, the EU asserts it is doing so in a way that conceals citizens’ identities and that use of mobile applications will be voluntary for individuals, based on users’ consent.

Meanwhile, some companies are already using technology for health monitoring like Amazon, deploying thermal cameras at warehouses to scan for fevers faster.

Look out for ethical risks

While a voluntary opt-in is one way of finding the right balance in using technology to monitor COVID-19, ethical concerns should stay front and center. “The risk is that in an emergency everybody rushes to find a solution without regard for longer-term societal and ethical risks,” says Elaine Weidman Grunewald, co-founder of the AI Sustainability Center in Stockholm, a global hub that focuses on ethical pitfalls in the use of AI and other technology, as TriplePundit has previously reported. “The most obvious risks are misuse and overuse of data for unintended purposes as well as reusing that data in a way that could result in different forms of discrimination and bias,” she told TriplePundit.

The privacy implications are fully apparent when tech giants jump into the mix, with their access to huge amounts of data and, some have argued, too little transparency and oversight on how they use that data. For example, Apple and Google recently announced plans to launch a voluntary contact tracing tool to help individuals determine whether they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Weidman Grunewald says she recognizes that companies need to have some kind of solution for monitoring health of employees before they bring people back to work. “Technology is an incredibly powerful tool in helping to combat the disease. But I would recommend that companies be transparent about how they will and will not use this data and be open and transparent about that, and let people opt in.”

As Pentland points out in his paper, using blood tests to certify people who are verifiably immune from the illness or vaccinated, and therefore “safe” to rejoin the workforce is not a new concept. This sort of certification exists in the form of tuberculosis test documentation for food workers and proof of vaccinations for childcare workers, for instance. He argues that financial incentives could help kick-start the process. The government, for instance, could offer tax breaks to companies that employ “safe” workers. Businesses, meanwhile, could offer increased pay to motivate these same workers to take public-facing jobs. Additionally, businesses could certify that they hire only safe employees in public-facing positions, which would inspire customer confidence.

A privacy trade-off in the COVID-19 age?

There is well-documented skepticism among the public about protection of their personal data. A majority of Americans are concerned about the way their data is being used by companies (79 percent) or the government (64 percent) and most feel they have little or no control over how these entities use their personal information, according to a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center.

But when it comes to getting back to work, people may be willing to make a privacy trade-off. A little more than half of Americans now back anonymized government smartphone tracking, according to a Harris Poll survey of about 2,000 people conducted between March 28 and 30. A new age of digital surveillance could be one of the many ways that coronavirus is changing the world as we know it.

Image credit: Cory Checketts/Unsplash

A study published by Nature this month calculates the potential loss nations would face if they fail to take action toward climate change, as well as the benefits they would reap by maintaining the standard set by the Paris Agreement: keeping global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution.

Every single nation would benefit from climate action and be hurt by inaction, the study shows. The numbers are as follows: If current emissions reduction efforts continue, the world would see a benefit anywhere between $127 trillion and $616 trillion through until 2100.

However, if countries are unable to reach their Nationally Determined Contributions from the Paris Agreement, the global economy could lose between $150 trillion to $792 trillion from now through the end of this century.

Carbon reductions in coronavirus times

Publishing this study outside of the novel coronavirus pandemic would have been a firm push to national governments. And despite the constant photos that remind us of the sudden fall in COVID-related emissions, organizations including the UN have made it clear that the world will still confront many risks linked to climate change. In many ways, however, national leaders are being pressed in the opposite direction.

Shelter-in-place orders have strained many businesses, and in some cases, governing bodies have been asked to shoulder that pressure.

Some industries are lobbying to lower carbon restrictions — claiming it’s a matter of survival. The International Air Travel Association has asked the International Civil Aviation Organization to lighten the standards that are part of the Carbon Offsetting and Reductions Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), adding the threat that some nations would pull out if the agreement isn’t amended.

Turns out, international climate commitments aren’t as fatal as airlines make them out to be. The Environmental Defense Fund’s statement responding to airline pressure reads in part:

“Coronavirus/COVID-19 is a global crisis that has hit public health and the world’s airlines are facing real economic and structural threats. But U.N. climate action is not one of them. That’s because there will be plenty of high-quality credits available to help airlines meet their carbon limits in CORSIA’s initial years – and because CORSIA includes provisions, thanks to ICAO foresight, that give airlines flexibility to deal with the COVID-19 crisis without sacrificing climate protection.”

Car companies have also done their share of lobbying. In Europe, automakers have requested that the European Union delay implementing tighter carbon regulations. In response, Greenpeace UK’s executive director, John Sauven, told The Guardian in part, “…it would be a mistake to use this crisis as a reason to roll back on environmental regulations. One, it won’t suddenly restart car sales, and two, tackling one crisis can’t be done at the expense of another one.”

Now is not the time to shirk the Paris Agreement goals

As governments do their best to control the spread of coronavirus with stay-in-place orders, individuals, businesses, cities and nations won’t be able to accomplish everything they have planned.

A message of compassion has been floating around the media to quarantined individuals — it’s ok to be unproductive right now. Parents who are homeschooling their children while working their normal nine-to-five, for one, should cut themselves slack. Multinational corporations that have received billions of dollars in stimulus funds, on the other hand, shouldn’t need slack when it comes to climate action.

The Nature study emphasizes that every country needs to increase its efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement’s target. The initial investment for G20 nations before breaking even is between $16 trillion and $104 trillion, the study finds. Benefits will require a long-term view, as the projected breaking even point is the year 2100.

Continuing climate mitigation, though, will enable nations to avoid an approximately 0.6 percent annual reduction in GDP due to the effects of climate change.

People may be seeing clearer skies out their windows as fewer individuals drive to work each day, but a few months of inactivity won’t exactly solve the climate crisis. Even as the coronavirus crisis creeps into summer, cities will have to grapple with the added challenges of climate-related flooding, wildfires and more, a Four Twenty Seven analysis shows.

There is serious work to be done, and now. Yes, there are economic benefits to be realized, but the consequences are harsher. We can’t afford to put off the Paris Agreement, and strict climate standards, until after the crisis ends.

Image credit: Nils Nedel/Unsplash

Myriam Sidibe spent more than a dozen years at Unilever, where she led the Lifebuoy brand's renowned global handwashing campaign. Engaging Lifebuoy, U.N. organizations and NGOs, and competitors like Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive, the campaign helped more than 1 billion people around the world improve their handwashing habits. 

Called "the biggest hygiene behavior change program in the world," the campaign was also a driving force behind the creation of Global Handwashing Day, which raises awareness of handwashing to prevent disease. This work has already changed countless communities for the better, but perhaps it's never been more important than it is today. "Coronavirus is now bringing us global handwashing year," Sidibe told TriplePundit by phone from her home in Kenya. 

Now on sabbatical from Unilever and a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Sidibe is exploring a new discipline she calls "marketing for public health," which is meant to "infuse marketing with value" and "bridge the divide between what companies say and what companies do." 

Detailed in her new book, "Brands on a Mission: How to Achieve Social Impact and Business Growth through Purpose,” this new realm of purpose-driven marketing is key to how companies can best respond to COVID-19, Sidibe says. "When you look at the reach of these manufacturers and the overall private sector, they’re sitting on grand resources and abilities to communicate to the public about how they can comply with what is required today, in a way that’s less scary and more influential," she told TriplePundit. 

Marketing for public health: Re-tooling companies' best assets to respond to COVID-19

Sidibe further details her vision for purpose-driven marketing in an article published in Harvard Business Review last week, where she provides a five-step framework for brands to connect their purpose to their operations and drive impact. These range from winning internal support among leadership to the difficult exercise of measuring an initiative's effects on public health and wellbeing. When it comes to COVID-19, she outlined three key action items for business leaders during her interview with 3p. 

Engage in responsible marketing. The traditional tools of marketers — including market research, product innovation, communications and incentives — can be leveraged for behavior change and improving public health, Sidibe wrote in HBR. "Brands have huge marketing budgets, and they are talking to the population," she told 3p. "The way I see this is that the private sector has a huge role in terms of incentivizing self-isolation and quarantine, handwashing with soap, and hygiene." 

This role breaks down into two levels. "The first is access to essential hygiene products like soaps, sanitizers, masks and testing kits. The second is enabling people to use these products," she explained. "It's not just about distributing the soap. It's about making sure you come up with messaging that is dynamic, that changes and that enables a social norm around handwashing with soap. All of that is absolutely critical to make a real dent in stopping the crisis."

Join multi-stakeholder coalitions. To maximize impact on a global crisis like COVID-19, Sidibe advises brands to "join coalitions where they can bring their resources — not only cash, but also human resources and creativity — to the forefront of the conversation."

There are no shortage of options on this front. To name just two examples: Sidibe is working with former Unilever CEO Paul Polman and the coalition Business Fights Poverty on a campaign to accelerate local action and global best practice sharing across businesses as they seek to respond to COVID-19. Her book is also connected to a global movement, also called Brands on a Mission, to generate a collective US$1 billion investment in sustainable business models that address health and well-being.

Keep business continuity and resilience. Of course, every responsible business leader wants to leverage his or her resources to save lives and livelihoods amid the COVID-19 crisis, but maintaining their own operations is also important, Sidibe says.

"Obviously it doesn’t serve anybody if the community is collapsing. A lot of these businesses and companies are our employers as well as motivators," she told 3p. "In a moment like this, you can't just be thinking about your own business because you don't operate single-handedly. Yet we do have to keep business resilience and business continuity in mind, because we need them to keep bringing the goods to the public."

A focus on the most vulnerable is key to beating COVID-19

From her home base in Kenya, Sidibe has a unique vantage point from which to view the COVID-19 crisis. More than 27,000 coronavirus cases have already been identified in Africa, and it's spreading quickly. The World Health Organization warns the number of cases on the continent could surpass 10 million within six months. 

"We cannot wait until the number of cases grows, because there is absolutely no way that our health infrastructure would be able to pick that up," Sidibe told us. Although Kenya is in a better position, some less developed countries on the continent have less than 50 ICU beds each, Sidibe says, putting their healthcare systems at grave risk of becoming overwhelmed. "At the core of the response has to be prevention and communication to enable these prevention mechanisms so we can contain this as much as possible." 

But in densely populated environments where people work to eat each day, this is easier said than done. "The most vulnerable will be those who are not able to practice [social distancing] behaviors because of crowding," Sidibe explained. "You may have 12 people living in a single room. You don’t have a private toilet or private handwashing facilities. You have to share." 

Further, "it’s very nice to tell people to stay home, but the reality is a lot of the economy is still driven by the informal sector. What people sell today is what feeds their families," she said. "So, prevention and livelihoods have to be absolutely synergized. You cannot talk about prevention without talking about livelihoods."

To best respond in the vulnerable communities where it matters most, brands can take initiative to distribute soap, sanitizer and masks, set up public handwashing stations, provide resources to frontline healthcare workers, and — perhaps most importantly — use their marketing resources to educate the public about how to keep themselves safe, Sidibe says. 

"You need both the consumerism as well as the messages and the trust within communities," she told us. "If you combine market access as well as a community presence, together you can really get to a real impact."

On this front, she's also spearheading the National Business Compact on COVID-19, a national business coalition campaign in Kenya. "There is no way we can solve this crisis unless we solve for the most vulnerable," she said firmly, "otherwise the virus will always be here and therefore we will never be safe."

The bottom line: Now, more than ever, social impact is key to brand survival 

In the age of COVID-19, brands not only have a moral responsibility to keep their stakeholders safe, but also a business imperative to act swiftly and meaningfully. "We’re in a moment of crisis, and the businesses and brands that do not think beyond their consumers to the communities and environments in which they operate will not be regarded very well," Sidibe says. 

There's no one-size-fits-all solution to a corporate response, she concluded. But now, more than ever, companies have to be sure they do something. "Brands can do all sorts of things," she advised. "They can obviously make sure that we have the products available, but also they can also make sure the right behaviors are encouraged by mainstream media and mainstream marketing in ways which support the population, because this is a hard moment for everyone." 

Image credit: Gallery DS/Unsplash

The economic recovery from COVID-19 will be a long and painful effort, and judging from recent developments, it may be especially painful for fossil fuel industry stakeholders. Policy makers in the European Union are beginning to coalesce around a strategy of fueling the COVID-19 recovery with renewable energy, and some of the world’s leading corporate citizens are on board with the plan.

They mean (renewable energy) business

Last week the energy advocacy group We Mean Business shared its powerful lineup of organizations in favor of renewable energy and green jobs, and it is impressive.

To start with, the chair of the EU’s committee on environment and public health launched the new European Alliance for Green Recovery. The public-private coalition started with a bang, including representatives from 37 global companies based in Europe.

The impact is bound to ripple across to the U.S., where many of these companies already have a profound influence on the sustainable business landscape.

The list includes Iberdrola, Enel, EDP, H&M, Ikea, Unilever, AB InBev, Nestlé and Volvo Group, along with the construction materials firm Saint-Gobain and the water and waste management company Suez Group.

“These companies understand the growing risks associated with climate change and are acting now to ensure they are able to minimize those risks and be more resilient to future shocks,” We Mean Business explains. “These companies also know that the decisions governments make now will lock in the strategic direction of entire economies for years to come.”

In addition to taking on energy-related carbon emissions, the group also demonstrates that other industrial sectors are part of the solution. Of particular interest is new technology under development by Alliance member HeidelbergCement.

More companies commit to more renewable energy and clean tech

We Mean Business also notes that additional companies have committed to the Science Based Targets initiative in recent weeks, despite the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. SBTi establishes fact-based pathways for businesses to meet the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

More than 850 companies have made commitments to SBTi or set targets, including some of the most recognizable names in North America such as Xerox, Whirlpool, Walmart, Verizon, Hershey, and Coca-Cola, among many others.

Other renewable energy coalitions have also seen growth in recent weeks. That includes three initiatives organized by The Climate Group, all of which have significant support from U.S. business leaders: RE100 (renewable energy), EP100 (energy productivity) and EV100 (electric vehicles).

EU leads on renewables; U.S., not so much

Among policy makers in the 27 EU Union countries, support for a “green recovery” after COVID-19 is not universal. However, the endorsement of leading businesses may provide enough momentum to swing enough votes in favor.

On April 9, Reuters reported that 10 EU environment ministers out of 27 member countries signed an open letter in support of a green recovery plan, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Latvia and Luxembourg.

“We should withstand the temptations of short-term solutions in response to the present crisis that risk locking the EU in a fossil fuel economy for decades to come,” the letter argues, “Instead, we must remain resolved to increase the EU’s 2030 target before the end of this year…and inspire other global players to raise their ambition as well.”

By April 17, France and Germany also signed on to the letter, which calls for COVID-19 recovery funding to include elements of the EU’s own European Green Deal plan.

The prospects for a national green recovery plan are less certain here in the U.S. The federal legislative process is controlled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has established a firm record of support for the coal industry (though not necessarily for coal miners) and other fossil fuel sectors.

So far, Senator McConnell has opposed efforts to steer stimulus funds in the direction of the wind and solar industries.

Nevertheless, many U.S. businesses are not waiting around to be inspired by activity in the EU. We Mean Business cites Barry Parkin, the Chief of Procurement and Sustainability for Mars, who affirmed his company’s ongoing commitment to accelerating climate action even while prioritizing COVID-19 response.

Parkin also neatly summed up the public health connection between COVID-19 recovery and climate action.

“We urge governments to ensure their plans to rebuild our economies prioritize the health of humans by keeping the health of the environment a core consideration,” he said.

That plea may fall on deaf ears in the office of the Senate Majority Leader, but state governors are certainly listening.

Key U.S. states, including New York and California, are continuing to sprint ahead with their renewable energy plans. Senator McConnell has slowed down progress, but he can’t stop it.

Image credit: Aniek Wessel/Unsplash