Thinking about the events that have rapidly changed the world in the last 3 months, the impact that it may have on sustainability and resilience may be profound.
Coronavirus has affected lives of billions of people globally. 3 billion people in lockdown, 1.3 million confirmed cases and growing and more than 72,000 deaths already as of writing this article. Economy has been pushed into recession with much of the economy being ground to a halt. Markets have been tumbling and volatile, with stock market indices down for around 20-30 percent over the last month as crisis unfolded. Millions of jobs at risk with unemployment in most of the countries globally predicted to hit double digit figures.
A very grim picture. However there have been also some clear winners in this situation.
The environment has been the main beneficiary of the halt of human activity. In the last month since lockdown started in Wuhan and since the beginning of 2020 in Europe and USA we have seen: significant improvements in air quality; reduction of green house emissions; fall in consumption of coal; low transport and airline emissions; and less waste.
We see reports of cleaner water in Venice canals and good air in cities in China and elsewhere. This is also confirmed by the aerial and satellite images, which Guardian named “Largest scale experiment ever". Nitrogen dioxide NO2 is emitted from power plants, cars, and industrial processes, we have seen significant reduction in NO2 around the world's largest cities.
The pandemic also had a great impact on our jobs and education. Companies had been historically very reluctant to allow their employees to work from home. Academics had been researching and predicting about different ways that the work would be changed in the future, including digitisation and remote work.
The future came extremely quickly, almost overnight. Both large and small organisations as well as employees have adapted to a remote way of working, using modern communication and productivity tools like zoom, slack, and project management tools. Schools and universities quickly rolled out new e-learning platforms converting their content online and making their teachers and students use e-learning platforms.
Time will show the long-term effects of the move to remote education, workplace, environment and many other aspects affecting human life. However, if we are to maintain its positive effects more work needs to be done. The pandemic has taken all the media and news space and the climate agenda is no longer making the headlines as the emergency. Just online campaigns will not be as effective as mass protests. In addition, countries may start relaxing environmental and climate related measures. China for example is considering lowering its car pollution standards.
So what can we do to leverage the positive "side-effects" of this situation and make the effects on the society and the environment long-lasting?
Companies and people have a great chance to internalise the newly learned habits, which will have a lasting impact on the way we use public transportation and energy. The most competitive companies will use the trend and start hiring remotely, which became much easier thanks to advances in recruitment and productivity tools.
The VCs, private equity, corporates and governments have a real opportunity as well as a duty to plan and make investments in sustainability programs, healthcare, tele-health, broadband and 5G internet, renewable energy, super-fast trains, supersonic airplanes, collaboration tools, immersive technologies (VR & AR) and other related industries and projects.
These are the types of fledging technologies and industries that will have a new chance to show their worth, help us to withstand pandemics of the future and to become more resilient. Resiliency and sustainability are the names of the game going forward.
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Yervand Sarkisyan is an investor in AI and deep tech ventures. Based in London, UK he co-founded Granatus Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in deep tech startups.
Yervand is also an NED, advisor and speaker on building ecosystems, corporate governance, sustainability and investments. Yervand’s interests include most advanced technologies that have impact on helping achieve sustainability and impact.
Coronavirus has affected lives of billions of people globally. 3 billion people in lockdown, 1.3 million confirmed cases and growing and more than 72,000 deaths already as of writing this article. Economy has been pushed into recession with much of the economy being ground to a halt. Markets have been tumbling and volatile, with stock market indices down for around 20-30 percent over the last month as crisis unfolded. Millions of jobs at risk with unemployment in most of the countries globally predicted to hit double digit figures.
A very grim picture. However there have been also some clear winners in this situation.
The environment has been the main beneficiary of the halt of human activity. In the last month since lockdown started in Wuhan and since the beginning of 2020 in Europe and USA we have seen: significant improvements in air quality; reduction of green house emissions; fall in consumption of coal; low transport and airline emissions; and less waste.
We see reports of cleaner water in Venice canals and good air in cities in China and elsewhere. This is also confirmed by the aerial and satellite images, which Guardian named “Largest scale experiment ever". Nitrogen dioxide NO2 is emitted from power plants, cars, and industrial processes, we have seen significant reduction in NO2 around the world's largest cities.
The pandemic also had a great impact on our jobs and education. Companies had been historically very reluctant to allow their employees to work from home. Academics had been researching and predicting about different ways that the work would be changed in the future, including digitisation and remote work.
The future came extremely quickly, almost overnight. Both large and small organisations as well as employees have adapted to a remote way of working, using modern communication and productivity tools like zoom, slack, and project management tools. Schools and universities quickly rolled out new e-learning platforms converting their content online and making their teachers and students use e-learning platforms.
Time will show the long-term effects of the move to remote education, workplace, environment and many other aspects affecting human life. However, if we are to maintain its positive effects more work needs to be done. The pandemic has taken all the media and news space and the climate agenda is no longer making the headlines as the emergency. Just online campaigns will not be as effective as mass protests. In addition, countries may start relaxing environmental and climate related measures. China for example is considering lowering its car pollution standards.
So what can we do to leverage the positive "side-effects" of this situation and make the effects on the society and the environment long-lasting?
Companies and people have a great chance to internalise the newly learned habits, which will have a lasting impact on the way we use public transportation and energy. The most competitive companies will use the trend and start hiring remotely, which became much easier thanks to advances in recruitment and productivity tools.
The VCs, private equity, corporates and governments have a real opportunity as well as a duty to plan and make investments in sustainability programs, healthcare, tele-health, broadband and 5G internet, renewable energy, super-fast trains, supersonic airplanes, collaboration tools, immersive technologies (VR & AR) and other related industries and projects.
These are the types of fledging technologies and industries that will have a new chance to show their worth, help us to withstand pandemics of the future and to become more resilient. Resiliency and sustainability are the names of the game going forward.
--
Yervand Sarkisyan is an investor in AI and deep tech ventures. Based in London, UK he co-founded Granatus Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in deep tech startups.
Yervand is also an NED, advisor and speaker on building ecosystems, corporate governance, sustainability and investments. Yervand’s interests include most advanced technologies that have impact on helping achieve sustainability and impact.
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