WHO chief: the G20 must invest in a healthier, greener post-pandemic world

WHO chief: the G20 must invest in a healthier, greener post-pandemic world

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The writer is director-general of the World Health Organization

Extreme heat is ravaging North America, leaving hundreds of people dead. This is the climate crisis in action, powered by our addiction to fossil fuels, and with real and devastating consequences for our health. Despite the now undeniable impact, however, G20 governments have committed close to $300bn in stimulus funding to support fossil fuel energy since January 2020.

As finance ministers from the Group of 20 gather in Venice this week to advance the G20's green agenda, the need for their collaboration has never been more vital.

G20 countries are facing two hefty challenges; first, charting a path out of the acute phase of the pandemic and, second, kick-starting the global economy after Covid-19 in a way that avoids exacerbating the climate crisis. 

Both challenges will require global solidarity and financial commitments to match them.

In recent months, my UN colleagues and I have repeatedly called on advanced economies to develop an accelerated co-ordinated strategy, backed by new financing, to vaccinate the world in a fair manner. The formation of a multi-agency task force on Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for developing countries will add much-needed energy,