Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

G20’s US$14-trillion economic stimulus reneges on emissions pledges

Analysis of pandemic economic recovery packages from the 20 largest economies reveals that governments are not spending on emissions cuts despite promises to ‘build back better’.
  1. Jonas M. Nahm

    1. Jonas M. Nahm is an assistant professor in the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Scot M. Miller

    1. Scot M. Miller is an assistant professor in the Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Johannes Urpelainen

    1. Johannes Urpelainen is a professor of Energy, Resources and Environment in the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

An excavator waiting inside a dump truck at a coal mine in Indonesia

An excavator at a coal mine in Indonesia. The country holds the 2022 presidency of the G20 group of largest economies. Credit: Afriadi Hikmal/NurPhoto/Getty

Governments are spending unprecedented amounts to escape the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the G20 group of the 20 largest economies spent at least US$14 trillion — close to China’s annual gross domestic product. Much of that total, rightly, went to shoring up health-care systems, wages and welfare. But climate action was widely promised, too — including ‘green new deals’ and ‘building back better’.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 603, 28-31 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00540-6

References

  1. Jaeger, J., Westphal, M. I. & Park, C. Lessons Learned on Green Stimulus: Case Studies from the Global Financial Crisis (World Resources Institute, 2020).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Andrijevic, M., Schleussner, C.-F., Gidden, M. J., McCollum, D. L. & Rogelj, J. Science 370, 298–300 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Meckling, J. & Allan, B. B. Nature Clim. Change 10, 434–438 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. US National Science Foundation. FY 2022 Budget Request to Congress (NSF, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Vetter, D. ‘China Built More Offshore Wind In 2021 Than Every Other Country Built In 5 Years.’ Forbes (26 January 2022).

  6. Mol, A. P. J. Environ. Polit. 25, 48–68 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Nahm, J. Collaborative Advantage: Forging Green Industries in the New Global Economy (Oxford Univ. Press, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hepburn, C., O’Callaghan, B., Stern, N., Stiglitz, J. & Zenghelis, D. Oxford Rev. Econ. Pol. 36, S359–S381 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Supplementary Information

  1. Supplementary methods and description of data
  2. G20 fiscal stimulus spending and effect on emissions

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links