A Sustainable COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Redesign: Principles and Applications of the Triple R Framework

Published on February 4, 2022

Many decision makers are contemplating whether policies and investments made in the wake of COVID-19 are inclusive, resilient and sustainable enough to bring about a course change in development. This paper outlines the design features of framework that helps policymakers steer a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable course. What the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) calls the “Triple R” Framework consists of connecting targeted “response” interventions with broader “recovery” policies and related stimulus spending while “redesigning” socioeconomic systems to support the framework’s response and recovery elements. In recommending that policymakers use this framework, the paper emphasises that government decisions should aim to adhere to several principles: 1) coherence in content; 2) consistency over time; 3) scalability across space; and 4) alignment of supportive stakeholder interests. Meeting these criteria in policy areas such solid waste, air pollution, and water/wastewater management as well as sustainable lifestyles and ecosystem preservation will strengthen the integration within and across COVID-19 decisions. It will further expand stakeholder support and financial resources committed to a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable world that can avert future planetary crises.

A critical question is whether policy and investment decisions made in the wake of COVID-19 are inclusive, resilient and sustainable enough to bring about a course change in development (Rasul 2020). COVID-19, like many crises, has opened an opportunity to break down the multiple barriers and interests preventing departures from business-as-usual development. Growing evidence of COVID-19’s interrelationship with a variety of environmental concerns—from pollution prevention to biodiversity preservation—could inform the cross-sectoral strategies needed to capitalize on this opportunity (Zhou and Moinuddin 2021). However, this window of opportunity could close soon if policymakers are ill equipped to marshal that evidence to formulate an integrated package of COVID-19 decisions. Such a failure could lead policymakers to focus narrowly on COVID-19’s most pressing health and economic impacts while allocating funding to piecemeal collections of short-sighted investments and self-serving interests. The paper outlines criteria in policy areas such as solid waste, air pollution, and water/wastewater management as well as sustainable lifestyles and ecosystem preservation will strengthen the integration within and across COVID-19 decisions. This is related to SDG number 12 in the way that aims to fulfill targets such as the 12.2: “By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources”, the 12.5: “By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse”, 12.8: “By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature”, and also, 12.A: “Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production”.