The world wasn't ready for a Green New Deal in 2009. Today, it may be | Larry Elliott

There is no easy route to a greener global economy. But since coronavirus hit, politics and business are thinking again

Timing matters. Early 2020 saw an economic collapse the likes of which have not been seen in living memory. Growth has collapsed, unemployment has soared, poverty has increased.

Yet in different circumstances the past few months would have been dominated by calls for countries to do more to cut carbon emissions. As 2019 drew to an end, everybody from the managing director of the International Monetary Fund to the governor of the Bank of England was warning of the threat of global heating.