The arrival of the coronavirus and the subsequent confinement has left us with a list of countless uncertainties. That's why we are all, these days, asking ourselves the same question: what will we be like after COVID-19? The question can be applied to all the sectors and areas we want, but it is the same and responds to the need to obtain certain certainties.
One of these questions revolves around sustainability: will we have a more sustainable world after COVID-19? The truth is that there are plenty of reasons for our predictions to go one way or the other of the scales.
In favour of a more sustainable world
Confinement and emissions
There had to be something good about being confined at home: as we saw at the time, in recent weeks greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere have dropped considerably and the quality of our air has undeniably improved.
All reports suggest that, even when the lockdown ends this summer, citizens will tend to spend less time on the street than we did before. And that, whether we like it or not, will have a positive influence on present and future sustainability indices.
Environmental policies
The struggle for a more sustainable world is not exactly new. Beyond confinement and the coronavirus, environmental and sustainable development policies have been implemented in all countries for many years. And that path, with or without coronavirus, is unstoppable, so it seems logical to think that we will be increasingly sustainable, especially taking into account the emergence of various technologies focused on this same goal.
Less travel
Confinement has plunged us into a wave of teleworking that sooner or later will fall. However, it would be naïve to think that we will all go back to work in the same way as before. Although teleworking ends up falling compared to these weeks, it is clear that it will rise compared to previous years, so the number of trips to the teleworking place will also decrease.
Against a more sustainable world
Individual vehicle
In recent weeks, most citizens have tried to avoid the biggest sources of contagion: public and/or shared transport. If the metro or the train are potential focal points, everything points to the fact that, when all this is over, many people will prefer to face all their journeys in their personal vehicles, which will have a very negative impact on emissions.
More consumption
This situation has caused external consumption (bars, restaurants, shops, etc.) to fall very strikingly, while domestic consumption (electricity, water, gas, etc.) has risen. And what will happen when the confinement ends? That, although we have logical precautions, external consumption will rise exorbitantly. The inmate, on the other hand, will depend on the establishment of teleworking.
Unemployment
This health crisis is also developing at an economic and social level. Many jobs lost during these months will take some time to be recovered, which will end up resulting in a greater or lesser impoverishment of various sectors of the population. This impoverishment will slow down, and a lot, the possibility that certain families will opt for solutions and technologies (solar panels, recycling, energy efficiency) that sometimes involve a moderately high initial economic outlay.