Project Cygnus is working towards finding the best solutions to enable the economic recovery from Covid-19 to be as sustainable as well as local as possible. In the course of our research, we have looked at a large number of contenders for policies that would be best in order to achieve this aim. In doing so, we have evaluated polices based on four criteria.
One, which policies had the most support across the political spectrum, with both centre-left and centre-right figures/organisations making arguments in favour. We came to the conclusion early on that even if a policy was seen as being beloved by large portions of the left but had no traction with any serious players on the right, then advancing the policy wasn’t practical. We will have a Conservative government in Britain for at least the next three and a half years for a start, as well as a grand coalition in Ireland, the two largest portions of which are centre-right.
Two, which of the policy solutions available had the greatest bang for buck, i.e. what could make the greatest difference for the least amount of expenditure. Particularly as we want these policies to work at a local level, we had to consider what could be rolled out without too much expense, at least in order to get things moving forward quickly. We need a green economic recovery to happen as efficiently as possible.
Three, which policies would work regardless of the work patterns during the Covid recovery and after. Given we have no real idea yet what people’s working lives are going to be like once this crisis has abated, there was no sense in making grand, sweeping assumptions. The solutions had to work whether people were going to be working from home much more in the future as well as if the office is set to make a roaring comeback.
Fourth and finally, and in many ways most importantly, we wanted to discover which policies would create jobs and otherwise allow the country to best economically recover from the still ongoing Covid crisis. While we want to make the economic recovery needed as green and local as possible, there still needs to be an actual economic recovery. We need policies that will hold up their end not just in terms of sustainability and being local, but also in regard to actually creating jobs and aiding other economic factors.
We are nearing the end of our search for policies to help aid a sustainable Covid recovery, having held an event on the topic last week. Our findings will be published at the end of the year. In the meantime, join us on Thursday, November 26th at 10:30 am when we will be talking to MPs and Teachta Dála (TDs) from across the political spectrum to discover what the political parties in the UK and Ireland are planning in terms of green Covid recovery. Sign up via Eventbrite here.