  We estimate the short- to medium term impact of six major past pandemic
crises on the CO2 emissions and energy transition to renewable electricity. The
results show that the previous pandemics led on average to a 3.4-3.7% fall in
the CO2 emissions in the short-run (1-2 years since the start of the pandemic).
The effect is present only in the rich countries, as well as in countries with
the highest pandemic death toll (where it disappears only after 8 years) and in
countries that were hit by the pandemic during economic recessions. We found
that the past pandemics increased the share of electricity generated from
renewable sources within the fiveyear horizon by 1.9-2.3 percentage points in
the OECD countries and by 3.2-3.9 percentage points in countries experiencing
economic recessions. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context
of CO2 emissions and the transition to renewable energy in the post-COVID-19
era.
