Environmental crisis advances during pandemic - and worries investors

The relationship between the coronavirus crisis and the environmental crisis returns to the radar on Wednesday. A report in the British newspaper Financial Times shows that the U.S. government is taking advantage of the pandemic to loosen environmental rules set in barack Obama's previous administration. According to the newspaper, President Donald Trump has ordered his officials to find ways to speed up the construction of highways and pipelines that could be barred by legislation. The country's Environmental Protection Agency also reportedly took advantage of the quarantine to publish less stringent rules for air and water pollution and the use of fossil fuels. The National Department of Agriculture, for example, invited companies to explore oil and gas in national forests. Cars can also pollute more after a measure taken in March. In addition to the pandemic, there is an urgency in the U.S. government to review rules before a special 60-day pre-election period, when changes can be more easily overturned. With the congressional and executive vote scheduled for November, there is an urgency for change. The ongoing debate in the United States is echoed in other countries, especially Brazil. Deforestation figures in the forest could hit a record in 2020 —in May alone, 829 km2 were deforested. Yesterday, a group of investment funds that manage assets of 4 trillion dollars asked Brazil to stop deforestation of the forest. According to them, the loss of biodiversity and the increase in carbon emissions is a "systemic risk" that affects their investment portfolios. The attitude of Brazil and the United States differs from that adopted in Europe in the fight against the pandemic. At the end of May, the European Union approved an economic stimulus plan to use clean energy as an escape valve for the crisis. Report of the latest edition of Exame shows that the climate crisis will have greater and longer lasting consequences than the coronavirus pandemic. The health emergency should be a trigger for awareness, as environmentalists and investors agree.