COVID-19 vaccine

Op-ed: The tempting but false COVID-19, climate analogy

There is no vaccine to guide us out of the climate crisis. But solutions exist and, much like COVID-19 vaccines, the real challenge is in delivery.

As we gradually work our way out of the pandemic with the development and distribution of vaccines, what does our evolving success tell us about the possibilities of resolving the climate change crisis?


Has this crisis been a warm-up on what to do—and not do—in the face of a global climate emergency? The answer is both yes and no.

Yes, because humans have many tools at their disposal to solve complex tests. But no, because the challenges and the menu of solutions are quite different between these two existential challenges.

It even might be dangerous to boost this tempting analogy. Equating the two, given what we know now about defeating COVID-19, might encourage the idea of easy technological solutions. If we go down that path, we diminish our chances of realistically grappling with climate's complexity. Belief in technological fixes, particularly silver bullets, might dissipate the energy we need to get to work and avoids the breadth of the challenge ahead.

Paths forward exist

electric vehicle

Car parked at an electric car charger. (Credit: Ivan Radic/flickr)

As dramatic and devastating as it is, COVID-19 involves one virus (now mutating) that is causing illness and death. The solution is the vaccine. Fortunately, researchers were exploring vaccine methods in the aftermath of the 2003 SARS pandemic that proved fruitful for COVID-19.

The analogue to the almost two decades of work including pre-clinical animal testing that laid the foundation for the vaccine in record time is that we've known for a long time what is needed to stop the discharge of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and how to adapt.

There have been multiple fully coherent plans to decarbonize the economy. Significant research has been underway for decades identifying and, to some extent, implementing a wide variety of technologies, some as substitutes for fossil fuels, and others that reduce our reliance on energy or make it go farther. We've gathered experience with a variety of regulatory programs including regional systems of emissions trading and the various painfully developed regulations that would nudge and guide society toward more efficient cars, appliances, and power-generation. Despite attacks on these by the Trump Administration, they remain achievable options and the launching point for more.

There is also a broad base of support for acting on this threat from important actors in society who have come to understand how climate change destabilizes their work. Multiple corporations have expressed support for decarbonization. Military leaders have accepted climate change as a threat multiplier that makes their jobs much more difficult.

And there is no lack of planning for the inevitable damage from the changes already taking place. Cities and states have been busy for some time thinking about water level rise and weather-related disaster preparation.

In some ways, all this work is similarly off-the-shelf as was the virus research into the spike protein. It puts residents of planet Earth ready to move forward toward making their existence here safer.

Delivering solutions

President Joe Biden has made addressing climate change a key priority. (Credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

But the better analogy, and warning sign, if there is one, is not to the development of the vaccine but to its delivery. Delivery of a vaccine requires infrastructure, commitment, funding of multiple actors and coordination at many levels of society. It requires a federal government committed to action, not just wishful thinking. The early hitches in delivery laid bare many of the inequities that allow well-to-do people with access to computers, the internet, and other resources to be vaccinated while poorer people have difficulty even getting into line.

If we look at addressing the climate challenge as an all-of-government job; if we commit the funding and the political will; if we don't kid ourselves with delusions of quick fixes, and if business walks the walk, and doesn't just talk, we have a chance.

There is no way to make up lost time; the four years of Trump denial built dangerously on the period before that where Congress never acted. The Arctic is melting and the Antarctic is in danger – just one example but a very big one for current and future weather, and, in turn, for our ability to provide for ourselves. Even if we were completely to stop using fossil fuels today, the loading process in the atmosphere makes it very unlikely we can reverse warming trends very soon.

The COVID-19 experience is a guide, a useful one, but not a template. Just because answers are available, indeed well-known and vetted, doesn't mean they are easily adopted or applied. The test for the Biden Administration, as it is for COVID-19, is finding the commitments among winners and unhappy losers to put the stuff on the shelf to work.

Ruth Greenspan Bell is a Public Policy Scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a founder of The Environmental Protection Network.

Banner photo: Staff from a long-term care facility in New Jersey receive a COVID-19 vaccine. (Credit: Phil Murphy/flickr)

Books on an outdoor bookshelf shaped like a house, with trees in background.
Credit: Gigi/Unsplash

Our annual summer reading list, 2025 edition

Happy 4th of July! Here's what our staff is reading this summer.

Welcome to summer, everyone! Each 4th of July, our staff share a memorable book that they’ve recently read, and this year, like every year, has produced an eclectic, thought-provoking mix. We hope our picks inspire some new additions to your own lists.

Keep reading...Show less
Silhouette of a person on a hill in front of a setting sun.

Major climate change reports vanish from US federal websites, raising transparency concerns

Federal climate reports that help communities plan for extreme weather and rising seas have quietly disappeared from public websites, with little explanation from the Trump administration.

Seth Borenstein reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
a scale with the words Truth/Facts and fake news on it

UN official calls for criminal penalties for fossil fuel disinformation and lobbying bans

The United Nations’ top climate and human rights expert urged governments to criminalize fossil fuel disinformation, ban industry lobbying and ads, and phase out oil, gas, and coal by 2030 to meet their legal obligations under international law.

Nina Lakhani reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
A ship near an iceberg.

EPA staffer’s offhand remark on climate funds fuels political firestorm after secret video sting

A midlevel U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee was secretly recorded on a Tinder date by a Project Veritas operative, triggering political attacks and agency rollbacks based on a misrepresented comment about clean energy funding.

Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
silver and black electric oscillating fan in close up photography.
Credit: Roy Muz/Unsplash

Coal use drives sharp rise in U.S. power plant emissions amid summer heat

U.S. power plant emissions have surged to a three-year high, driven by a spike in coal use as utilities scramble to meet rising electricity demand during record summer heat and elevated natural gas prices.

Gavin Maguire reports for Reuters.

Keep reading...Show less
building with vegetation wall.

Cities are quietly outpacing nations in climate progress

Cities worldwide are cutting emissions, greening streets, and adapting to climate threats faster than national governments, according to a new international report.

Matt Simon reports for Grist.

Keep reading...Show less
a herd of cows standing next to each other in a barn, confined in individual metal stalls.

California residents challenge methane policy they say pollutes under the guise of clean energy

Residents in California’s Central Valley are pushing back against a state-backed program that incentivizes methane digesters at industrial dairies, arguing it locks in pollution and worsens environmental health in Latino communities.

Ray Levy Uyeda reports for Prism.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.