IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i2p892-d1024341.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Did the Pandemic Affect Our Perception of Sustainability? Enlightening the Major Positive Impact on Health and the Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmad Taha Khalaf

    (Clinical Medical College, Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Basic Medical College of Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China)

  • Yuanyuan Wei

    (Clinical Medical College, Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Basic Medical College of Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China)

  • Jun Wan

    (Clinical Medical College, Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Basic Medical College of Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China)

  • Samiah Yasmin Abdul Kadir

    (Faculty of Medicine, Widad University College, Kuantan 25200, Pahang, Malaysia)

  • Jamaludin Zainol

    (Faculty of Medicine, Widad University College, Kuantan 25200, Pahang, Malaysia)

  • Hua Jiang

    (Clinical Medical College, Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Basic Medical College of Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China)

  • Ahmed N. Abdalla

    (Faculty of Electronic Information Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an 223003, China)

Abstract

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 virus 2 (COVID-19) virus disease 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on 9 January 2020, the entire world has been exceptionally interested in examining the impact of this pandemic on people and the environment. The pandemic led to unprecedented measures to halt air traffic and close factories due to lockdowns, economic closures, and the stopping of transportation of all kinds. The decline in the use of coal by power plants, oil refining, and steel manufacturing had a beneficial effect on air pollution and caused a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the concept of sustainability has become more prevalent, reflecting the increasing awareness of the responsibility placed on every member of society. Sustainability is the quality and quantity of change that meets our needs without destroying the giving planet, which is the hope for the survival of future generations. We summarized and discussed the studies and research documenting these effects on the environment and health worldwide to come up with objective conclusions, and to draw some recommendations and concepts about the importance of sustainability. The significance of this article lies in that it aims to briefly review some of the positive and negative impacts observed and reported during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on health and the planet’s environment for the duration of April 2020–October 2022, and finally discuss the challenges and prospects to endorse planet sustainability. While COVID-19 had many beneficial effects on the planet’s recovery, there were also profound effects on health due to the disease itself. Government and policymakers must take measures to prevent this environmental healing process from being transient.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmad Taha Khalaf & Yuanyuan Wei & Jun Wan & Samiah Yasmin Abdul Kadir & Jamaludin Zainol & Hua Jiang & Ahmed N. Abdalla, 2023. "How Did the Pandemic Affect Our Perception of Sustainability? Enlightening the Major Positive Impact on Health and the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:892-:d:1024341
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/2/892/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/2/892/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guojun He & Yuhang Pan & Takanao Tanaka, 2020. "COVID-19, City Lockdowns, And Air Pollution: Evidence from China," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2020-72, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Mar 2020.
    2. Patrick Connerton & João Vicente de Assunção & Regina Maura de Miranda & Anne Dorothée Slovic & Pedro José Pérez-Martínez & Helena Ribeiro, 2020. "Air Quality during COVID-19 in Four Megacities: Lessons and Challenges for Public Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-24, July.
    3. Hung-Hao Chang & Chad Meyerhoefer & Feng-An Yang, 2020. "COVID-19 Prevention and Air Pollution in the Absence of a Lockdown," NBER Working Papers 27604, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Corinne Le Quéré & Robert B. Jackson & Matthew W. Jones & Adam J. P. Smith & Sam Abernethy & Robbie M. Andrew & Anthony J. De-Gol & David R. Willis & Yuli Shan & Josep G. Canadell & Pierre Friedlingst, 2020. "Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(7), pages 647-653, July.
    5. Mark Anthony Camilleri, 2017. "Corporate sustainability and responsibility: creating value for business, society and the environment," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 59-74, September.
    6. Abdullah Addas & Ahmad Maghrabi, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Air Quality—A Global Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-31, September.
    7. Sorin Cheval & Cristian Mihai Adamescu & Teodoro Georgiadis & Mathew Herrnegger & Adrian Piticar & David R. Legates, 2020. "Observed and Potential Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-25, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ahmad Zaini Miftah & Ida Widianingsih & Entang Adhy Muhtar & Ridwan Sutriadi, 2023. "Reviving a City’s Economic Engine: The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact and the Private Sector’s Engagement in Bandung City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng Jiang & Jiří Jaromír Klemeš & Yee Van Fan & Xiuju Fu & Yong Mong Bee, 2021. "More Is Not Enough: A Deeper Understanding of the COVID-19 Impacts on Healthcare, Energy and Environment Is Crucial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Jeadran Malagón-Rojas & Daniela Mendez-Molano & Julia Almentero & Yesith G. Toloza-Pérez & Eliana L. Parra-Barrera & Claudia P. Gómez-Rendón, 2022. "Environmental Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experience of Bogotá, 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-11, May.
    3. de Chalendar, Jacques A. & Benson, Sally M., 2021. "A physics-informed data reconciliation framework for real-time electricity and emissions tracking," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    4. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Umlai, Mohamed, 2023. "ICT sector, digitization and environmental sustainability: A systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2022," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Chiu-Ming Hsiao, 2022. "Economic Growth, CO 2 Emissions Quota and Optimal Allocation under Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-26, July.
    6. Mark Anthony Camilleri, 2020. "Strategic corporate social responsibility in tourism and hospitality," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 504-506, May.
    7. Björn Mestdagh & Olivier Sempiga & Luc Van Liedekerke, 2023. "The Impact of External Shocks on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Linking the COVID-19 Pandemic to SDG Implementation at the Local Government Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Agliardi, Elettra & Xepapadeas, Anastasios, 2022. "Temperature targets, deep uncertainty and extreme events in the design of optimal climate policy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    9. Vikraman R & Shulagna Sarkar & Vishnukumar K & Selvarasu A, 2021. "Leading Sustainable CSR Efforts: A Case of Sneha Opportunity School by NLCIL," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 14(1), pages 110-125, June.
    10. Zhu Liu & Zhu Deng & Philippe Ciais & Jianguang Tan & Biqing Zhu & Steven J. Davis & Robbie Andrew & Olivier Boucher & Simon Ben Arous & Pep Canadel & Xinyu Dou & Pierre Friedlingstein & Pierre Gentin, 2021. "Global Daily CO$_2$ emissions for the year 2020," Papers 2103.02526, arXiv.org.
    11. Xiao Yan & Aijun Shi & Jingyuan Cao & Tingting Li & Xuesong Sun & Rui Zhang & Xionghui Qiu & Yanxue Li & Miao Liang & Miao Lv & Chunlan Liu & Jing Wei, 2021. "The Occurrence of Heavy Air Pollution during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Beijing, China: Roles of Emission Reduction, Meteorological Conditions, and Regional Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-12, November.
    12. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    13. Liu, Li-Jing & Yao, Yun-Fei & Liang, Qiao-Mei & Qian, Xiang-Yan & Xu, Chun-Lei & Wei, Si-Yi & Creutzig, Felix & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2021. "Combining economic recovery with climate change mitigation: A global evaluation of financial instruments," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 438-453.
    14. Souknilanh Keola & Kazunobu Hayakawa, 2021. "Do Lockdown Policies Reduce Economic and Social Activities? Evidence from NO2 Emissions," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 59(2), pages 178-205, June.
    15. Abdullah A. Alakkas & Vivek & Mohinder Paul & Mohammed Kamalun Nabi & Mohammed Arshad Khan, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm-Based Brand Equity: The Moderating Effect of Marketing Communication and Brand Identity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    16. Zaheer Allam & Ayyoob Sharifi & Simon Elias Bibri & Didier Chabaud, 2022. "Emerging Trends and Knowledge Structures of Smart Urban Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-29, April.
    17. Francesco Sica & Francesco Tajani & Maria Rosaria Guarini & Rossana Ranieri, 2023. "A Sensitivity Index to Perform the Territorial Sustainability in Uncertain Decision-Making Conditions," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, February.
    18. Brodeur, Abel & Cook, Nikolai & Wright, Taylor, 2021. "On the effects of COVID-19 safer-at-home policies on social distancing, car crashes and pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    19. Weihua Lei & Luiz G. A. Alves & Luís A. Nunes Amaral, 2022. "Forecasting the evolution of fast-changing transportation networks using machine learning," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Haxhimusa, Adhurim & Liebensteiner, Mario, 2021. "Effects of electricity demand reductions under a carbon pricing regime on emissions: lessons from COVID-19," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:892-:d:1024341. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.