COVID-19 and the Environment: Short-Run and Potential Long-Run Impacts

Abstract

This review examines observed and hypothesized environmental impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Impacts are considered along two axes: timescale (from initial widespread sheltering, to a future after the economic recovery) and causal link (from direct impacts of protective measures, to cascading impacts of policy choices and market and behavioral responses). The available literature documents both positive and negative environmental consequences. These include many early reports of positive impacts (such as clearer skies and wildlife returning to vacated areas). However, it has become clear both that those benefits were largely temporary and that the prolonged health and economic disruptions pose acute risks to many terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Furthermore, this review was completed just as the Omicron variant emerged. Given the pandemic's persistence, the long timescales of cascading impacts, and the inherent lags in research and publication, this review provides an early view of what will eventually be known about the environmental impacts of the pandemic.