It is said that green shoots can be found in anything if one looks hard enough. The Covid year of 2020 flew squarely in the face of that. With over 96 million infected and 2 million fatalities, the last 12 months have been traumatic for so many families around the world.
Livelihoods have been fundamentally affected as millions face eviction, unemployment and poverty. Global gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to have contracted over 5%, according to the World Bank, destroying more than US$7 trillion in economic output. For Asean, most economies, with the possible exception of Vietnam, experienced an economic contraction in 2020.
In light of all the bad news, it is hard to talk about green shoots. However, if there are some, one is surely the fact that global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 declined by 2.4 billion tonnes or 7%, the largest yearly drop ever…
