Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sustainable Development and the SDGs in Europe

European countries are, at the time of writing this Report (July 2020), recovering from the immediate impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the numbers of new infections seem under control in many European countries. However, these achievements are fragile and the upcoming autumn and winter season may pose new challenges to dealing with the pandemic.

Many governments are currently in the process of designing or even implementing recovery plans and strategies that will alleviate the impacts of the economic shutdown following the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 (Covid-19) virus in Europe. This ESDN Report examines how the economic recovery can be designed in a way that does not jeopardise recent positive achievements in sustainable development (SD) overall, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular, and to avoid quick fixes that may potentially turn out to be unsustainable. As governments in Europe roll out substantial stimulus and recovery packages to revive the economy and society, SD can play a key role in using the recovery to set the world on a more sustainable path and even accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. Many political leaders have expressed their commitment to a sustainable recovery and there are many policy proposals by international organisations and think-tanks on the table. However, economic pressure may also lead governments to resort to quick fixes that may turn out as harmful to society and/or the environment on the long-run.