Health and Healthcare Systems

How the world can ‘reset’ itself after COVID-19 – according to these experts

Britain's Prince Charles gives a speech during a visit to the London Transport Museum, in London, Britain March 4, 2020. Victoria Jones/Pool via REUTERS - RC23DF9UZNLV

Great Reset ... a new initiative for a sustainable post-pandemic world, from the World Economic Forum and the Prince of Wales. Image: Reuters

Kate Whiting
Senior Writer, Forum Stories
  • The Great Reset is a new initiative from the World Economic Forum and HRH the Prince of Wales to guide decision-makers on the path to a more resilient, sustainable world beyond coronavirus.
  • The economic fallout from COVID-19 dominates risk perceptions, but there is a unique opportunity to reshape the global economy.
  • Greenpeace International’s Jennifer Morgan, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath and ITUC head Sharan Burrow discuss how they perceive a reset.

There won’t be many among the 7.7 billion people on Earth who haven’t been affected in some way by COVID-19.

From sickness and the death of loved ones to work shortages and school closures, the pandemic’s ramifications have touched every part of society – and thrown inequalities into sharp relief.

As lockdowns are starting to ease, governments and organizations across the globe are turning their attention to the recovery process – and the opportunity it provides to rebuild in a different way. One that makes the world better for everyone and addresses the other great crisis of our time: climate change.

Coronavirus china virus health healthcare who world health organization disease deaths pandemic epidemic worries concerns Health virus contagious contagion viruses diseases disease lab laboratory doctor health dr nurse medical medicine drugs vaccines vaccinations inoculations technology testing test medicinal biotechnology biotech biology chemistry physics microscope research influenza flu cold common cold bug risk symptomes respiratory china iran italy europe asia america south america north washing hands wash hands coughs sneezes spread spreading precaution precautions health warning covid 19 cov SARS 2019ncov wuhan sarscow wuhanpneumonia  pneumonia outbreak patients unhealthy fatality mortality elderly old elder age serious death deathly deadly
Predicted effects of coronavirus on the world. Image: WEF

With the economic fallout from COVID-19 dominating risk perceptions, this is a rare window of opportunity to shape a more sustainable, resilient world. And starting today [3 June], the World Economic Forum is working with HRH The Prince of Wales on an initiative coined Great Reset, to guide decision-makers on the rocky path ahead.

Leading up to the Forum’s Annual Meeting 2021, which will be devoted to the Great Reset, a series of virtual Great Reset Dialogues will take place every other Wednesday – bringing together global stakeholders from all sectors to discuss the way forward.

Here, three key experts from the Forum’s podcast series, World Vs Virus, envision a world beyond coronavirus.

Jennifer Morgan on the Green Reset
Executive Director of Greenpeace International Jennifer Morgan attends a session at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - RC2FKE95A5P4
Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International. Image: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

COVID-19 gives us the chance to step back and rethink the world we would like to live in, says Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International.

“We set up a new world order after World War II. We’re now in a different world than we were then. We need to ask, what can we be doing differently? The World Economic Forum has a big responsibility in that as well – to be pushing the reset button and looking at how to create well-being for people and for the Earth.”

Morgan is positive about the potential for a more joined-up approach to rebuilding greener economies, such as the European Green Deal, with collaboration between governments, companies and the youth movement.

“Companies have learned from the past and should take the opportunity to create a more circular zero-carbon economy for profit and for people.

“Government funds need to be invested in people for long-term jobs. We have an opportunity to shift coal miners who have been working in those types of jobs into other ones over time. It can’t be an either/or. We need to be thinking about these things together.”

Have you read?

What the world has learned from responding to the pandemic, with unity and speed, can be applied to tackling the climate crisis, too, Morgan argues.

“When we listen to the science and we understand what’s at stake, and we have clarity on what we need to do, we can address these crises. We know what the problem is. We know the people who are being impacted by it. We know what the solutions are.

“I think the key is to put the health of people and the planet first. That’s what’s happening on COVID-19, but it has not yet happened on climate change in many cases, because the fossil fuel interests and the large industrial farming interests want to keep things the way they are. And what we’re learning from this pandemic is it is possible to switch it.”

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing to manage emerging risks from COVID-19?

Gita Gopinath on the Economic Reset
Gita Gopinath, Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) speaks during a news conference in Santiago, Chile,  July 23, 2019. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido - RC11C8780C90
Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist at IMF. Image: REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

The nature of the COVID-19 crisis and the speed and scale of job losses makes it “glaringly” different from the 2008 financial crisis, so the solutions will need to be distinct, argues Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) chief economist.

In the short-term, government spending on health will be the top priority to mitigate not only the health problem, but also to “ensure a sound recovery once we come out of this health crisis”.

More spending will mean more debt, so for countries already experiencing debt distress, concessional financing and debt service relief have been approved by the IMF, Gopinath says, and “more will be needed in the coming years”.

While for other countries, liquidity facilities will be needed to avoid a debt crisis.

In the longer term, ongoing low interest rates “will help advanced economies especially to rollover their debts at very low rates”.

“Once we start to see a recovery in growth, that should help bring down the debt levels. For other countries, especially the poorer nations, I think that debt restructurings, debt relief, will have to continue to be done.”

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but countries will need to raise revenue, which may mean a form of solidarity tax.

“Countries will have to find ways of raising revenues and progressive taxation could be one form of it. Solidarity tax may be needed in some countries. It varies across countries, but this will be an issue countries will have to deal with because it will be one of the big legacies of this crisis.”

Public sector

The public sector will have a bigger role to play in future, she says, as traditionally happens in such crises.

“I believe it’s very important for countries to recognize there are essential services that need to be provided in terms of healthcare, education, good governance and a social safety that cannot be compromised on.”

The crisis has also made the need for global cooperation “abundantly clear” says Gopinath.

“This is a virus that doesn’t respect borders: it crosses borders. And as long as it is in full strength in any part of the world, it’s affecting everybody else. So it requires global cooperation to deal with it.”

Greener future

Like Morgan, Gopinath believes the COVID-19 crisis is a wake-up call that we need to shift to a greener economy, when countries are in a position to begin public spending.

“But how do we get to a more planet-friendly way of doing economic activity? What’s needed is to ramp up production of alternative forms of energy. And second, to have infrastructure that’s much more climate-friendly. In both these measures, the public sector can play a very big role.

“Once you have those in place – alternatives to energy and greener, physical infrastructure – then you can obviously put on top of that carbon pricing, too, so companies and firms internalize the impact of their activities on the climate.”

Sharan Burrow on the Work Reset
Sharan Burrow General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attends the session
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) . Image: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

“I can see how we could use this opportunity to design a better world,” says Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), “but we need both national and multilateral institutions to make it work.

“Solidarity and sharing and deciding on how you protect people – both within nations and globally – is absolutely critical at the moment.”

A survey by the ITUC found only one in five (21%) of its 86 member countries provides sick leave for all or some workers, so the reset requires social dialogue to ensure workers are protected.

“We must ensure this design is inclusive of universal social protection. The world could fund it right now – and yet 70% of the world’s population has no social protection. It must be respectful of public services rather than simply trying to profit from them.

“So public support for people and, of course, of the social dialogue that makes it possible for us to get the balance right, are crucial. If you’ve got workers, employers and civil society at the table with governments at all levels, then you can design the kind of future that takes into account the right priorities for people, for the planet and, of course, for stable economies.”

People and planet

While short-term measures such as income support are vital now, post-reconstruction policy frameworks are needed in the medium- to long-term, says Burrow. And these have to deal with both people and the planet.

“We need to design policies to align with investment in people and the environment. But above all, the longer-term perspective is about rebalancing economies.

“What we don’t want is an unbalanced economy where you can’t get essentials like healthcare products and food because they’re produced in one group of countries and not in a balanced fashion around the world. We have to look at how to build a better economy alongside the convergent crisis of the environment – which is not going to go away.”

In short, we need to shift our economic focus away from profit, says Burrow.

“We want an end to the profit-at-all-costs mentality, because if we don’t build an economic future within a sustainable framework in which we are respectful of our planetary boundaries, and the need to change our energy and technology systems, then we will not have a living planet for human beings.”

Loading...
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

COVID-19

Related topics:
Health and Healthcare SystemsBusinessJobs and the Future of Work
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how COVID-19 is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

What’s the difference between carbon negative and carbon neutral?

Emma Charlton

November 29, 2024

How to transform lung cancer outcomes in low- and middle-income countries

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum