The impact of COVID-19 on economies in the Alpine region

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Europe in late winter/early spring 2020. Government restrictions and voluntary individual changes in consumer and mobility behavior led to a sharp decline of nonessential activities. For 2020, European Union Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to decrease by about 8 %. Therefore, unprecedented recovery measures have been taken to support the economy, i.e., EU member states will conjointly borrow money to finance a one-off recovery instrument (‘Next Generation EU’). Until recently, it remained however unclear whether the additional money will be used to return to the pre-COVID-19 status quo or to support future-oriented transition processes and shape long-term structural change towards more sustainable economies and societies, supporting the transformation process to a ‘Green Economy’. This paper looks into the diversity of territorial impacts of the pandemic and drivers behind this diversity. Furthermore, recovery measures relevant for the Alpine region are presented as well as insights from the four pilot regions involved in the current project "Alpine Convention: Sectoral development of Green Economy in the Alpine Region" are shared. As outlook, possible future developments and sector-specific access points for action are provided. Thereby, the mentioned access points are neither fundamentally new nor exhaustive. The pandemic intensifies the challenges deriving from unsustainable developments. The crisis increases their visibility and actual impact. As consequence, the increasing awareness among citizens as well as decision makers might trigger new momentum for change towards more sustainable developments in the Alps.