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This year was welcomed with the red haze of bushfire smoke enveloping much of southeast Australia.

Catastrophic bushfires were raging across the country, and the bushfire season was reaching its seventh month.

The unprecedented bushfire season put climate change front and centre in many people’s minds. It seemed climate change might be the driving issue of the year.

Then, COVID-19 hit.

With lockdowns sweeping the nation in March, the focus switched from bushfire recovery and climate action, to preventing the spread of this new and deadly virus.

The pandemic has had a devastating effect across the world, within a relatively short period of time.

But, the way communities, organisations and governments have largely rallied around to respond to the pandemic has drawn comparison with the global response to climate change. Despite the obvious differences, some researchers believe there is a lot to be learned from the pandemic response for climate action.

Read the full article on the ANU Reporter website, featuring commentary by Prof Mark Howden, Dr Aparna Lal, Prof Warwick McKibbin, Dr Rebecca Colvin, and Dr Will Grant