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Research Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society | IREES Calendar

IREES colloquium: Global supply-chain effects of COVID-19 control measures | Prof. dr. Klaus Hubacek

When:We 02-09-2020 11:00 - 12:00
Where:via Zoom


Speaker | Prof. dr. K.S. (Klaus) Hubacek, Chair IREES.

Title | Global supply-chain effects of COVID-19 control measures.

Summary | Countries have sought to stop the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by severely restricting travel and in-person commercial activities. In this presentation, I will present a recently published paper in Nature Human Behavior, in which we analyze the supply-chain effects of a set of idealized lockdown scenarios, using the latest global trade modelling framework. We found that supply-chain losses that are related to initial COVID-19 lockdowns are largely dependent on the number of countries imposing restrictions and that losses are more sensitive to the duration of a lockdown than its strictness. Regardless of the strategy, the complexity of global supply chains will magnify losses beyond the direct effects of COVID-19. Thus, pandemic control is a public good that requires collective efforts and support to lower-capacity countries.