On March 24, 2020, the Time Magazine carried an article entitled “What Coronavirus Means for the Possibility of a Carbon-Free Economy” and argued that governments flood the economy with cash, deep investment in renewable projects would put people to work in the short term and, in the longer term, create decarbonized energy systems better able to compete in the 21st century. This sort of forward-looking thinking is needed in both developed and emerging contexts to ensure that even in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, policy makers and business people still work to create globally safe
environments and green businesses. This article interrogates the Impact of COVID- 19 on green businesses in South Africa and Ghana.
Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19
Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March 2020. The virus has exposed structural and systemic inequalities that exist in our African economies and how fragile we are. The personal, social and economic impact of COVID-19 is unlike anything experienced by the world in the past 75 years. South African and Ghanaian companies and small businesses have been established on the back of an integrated global trade network and the COVID -19 pandemic has exposed how fragile these markets are. This has shown how systems interact and how their systemic properties shape this interaction complex, nested, and interconnected
systems to deliver goods and services around the globe.
Survey found close to 3 million people were working in the informal sector, or around 18 per cent of total employment. This informal workforce is often the only source of income for many more households, ensuring that they stay above the poverty line.
Urban dwellers are further impacted by the already rising food prices both driven by panic buying and the disruption of food supply chains, through border and transport closures. During the 2014 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa, social unrest emerged in some of the affected countries, creating a vicious circle leading to even greater fragility. There is thus a need to tackle underlying fragility factors while addressing immediate needs arising from the pandemic.
