IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i21p11956-d667649.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Are There Any Impacts on Sustainability?

Author

Listed:
  • Halima Begum

    (School of Economics, Finance, and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia UUM, Sintok 06010, Malaysia)

  • A. S. A. Ferdous Alam

    (School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia UUM, Sintok 06010, Malaysia)

  • Walter Leal Filho

    (Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management”, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Ulmenliet 20, 21033 Hamburg, Germany
    Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street Manchester, Manchester M1 5GD, UK)

  • Abd Hair Awang

    (Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM, Bangi 43600, Malaysia)

  • Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani

    (School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia UUM, Sintok 06010, Malaysia)

Abstract

This paper sets out to explain and describe the potential ways to control COVID-19′s impact on the environment and what controllable strategies and anticipations emerge from rethinking sustainable production. The rapid and devastating spread of this disease has made millions of people throughout the world cover themselves, wear gloves, and use hand sanitizers and other medical applications. However, it means that a huge amount of clinical waste is being dumped into landfills or the oceans, and such activity may simply worsen the infection’s transmission and the sustainability of the environment, the socio-economy, and sustainable productions. This disease has greatly changed the way people live and has caused considerable occupational job losses and misfortunes, sending sustainable businesses and other organizations to the wall. Virtually every country is trying to stop the infection transmission by testing patients and isolating people, but the environmental effects of the pandemic and sustainable business have not previously been analyzed. The study suggests that the current options for sustainable production must be measured and also further researched.

Suggested Citation

  • Halima Begum & A. S. A. Ferdous Alam & Walter Leal Filho & Abd Hair Awang & Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani, 2021. "The COVID-19 Pandemic: Are There Any Impacts on Sustainability?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11956-:d:667649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11956/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11956/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peng Zhou & Xing-Lou Yang & Xian-Guang Wang & Ben Hu & Lei Zhang & Wei Zhang & Hao-Rui Si & Yan Zhu & Bei Li & Chao-Lin Huang & Hui-Dong Chen & Jing Chen & Yun Luo & Hua Guo & Ren-Di Jiang & Mei-Qin L, 2020. "Addendum: A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin," Nature, Nature, vol. 588(7836), pages 6-6, December.
    2. Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Fan, Yee Van & Tan, Raymond R. & Jiang, Peng, 2020. "Minimising the present and future plastic waste, energy and environmental footprints related to COVID-19," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Peng Zhou & Xing-Lou Yang & Xian-Guang Wang & Ben Hu & Lei Zhang & Wei Zhang & Hao-Rui Si & Yan Zhu & Bei Li & Chao-Lin Huang & Hui-Dong Chen & Jing Chen & Yun Luo & Hua Guo & Ren-Di Jiang & Mei-Qin L, 2020. "A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin," Nature, Nature, vol. 579(7798), pages 270-273, March.
    4. Ozili, Peterson & Arun, Thankom, 2020. "Spillover of COVID-19: Impact on the Global Economy," MPRA Paper 99317, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Eichenbaum, Martin S. & Rebelo, Sergio & Trabandt, Mathias, 2022. "The macroeconomics of testing and quarantining," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    6. Halima Begum & Chamhuri Siwar & A.S.A. Ferdous Alam & Er Ah Choy & Suraiya Ishak & Lubna Alam, 2018. "Enhancing sustainability amongst oil palm smallholders in Malaysia," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(1), pages 62-79.
    7. Dieter Helm, 2020. "The Environmental Impacts of the Coronavirus," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(1), pages 21-38, May.
    8. Luis Varona & Jorge R Gonzales, 2021. "Dynamics of the impact of COVID-19 on the economic activity of Peru," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(1), pages 1-30, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Stephanie Rodriguez-Besteiro & Juan José Cabello-Eras & Alvaro Bustamante-Sanchez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Macarena Donoso-Gonzalez & Ana Isabel Beltrán-Velasco & J, 2022. "Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-26, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ruslan Gunko & Lauri Rapeli & Patrik Karell, 2022. "Striving with Global Stress on a Local Level: Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed the Relationship between People and Nature?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Manuel Duarte Pinheiro & Nuno Cardoso Luís, 2020. "COVID-19 Could Leverage a Sustainable Built Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-28, July.
    3. Mia Madel Alfajaro & Emma L. Keeler & Ning Li & Nicholas J. Catanzaro & I-Ting Teng & Zhe Zhao & Michael W. Grunst & Boyd Yount & Alexandra Schäfer & Danyi Wang & Arthur S. Kim & Aleksandra Synowiec &, 2025. "HKU5 bat merbecoviruses engage bat and mink ACE2 as entry receptors," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Jun-Yu Si & Yuan-Mei Chen & Ye-Hui Sun & Meng-Xue Gu & Mei-Ling Huang & Lu-Lu Shi & Xiao Yu & Xiao Yang & Qing Xiong & Cheng-Bao Ma & Peng Liu & Zheng-Li Shi & Huan Yan, 2024. "Sarbecovirus RBD indels and specific residues dictating multi-species ACE2 adaptiveness," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. repec:osf:osfxxx:6y95m_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Alessandro Geremia & Arturo Montineri & Alessandra Sorce & Anastasia Xourafa & Enrico Buccheri & Antonino Catalano & Pietro Castellino & Agostino Gaudio & D.O.CoV Research, 2025. "Performance of Risk Scores in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Retrospective Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(8), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Graziella Orrù & Ciro Conversano & Eleonora Malloggi & Francesca Francesconi & Rebecca Ciacchini & Angelo Gemignani, 2020. "Neurological Complications of COVID-19 and Possible Neuroinvasion Pathways: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Britton Boras & Rhys M. Jones & Brandon J. Anson & Dan Arenson & Lisa Aschenbrenner & Malina A. Bakowski & Nathan Beutler & Joseph Binder & Emily Chen & Heather Eng & Holly Hammond & Jennifer Hammond , 2021. "Preclinical characterization of an intravenous coronavirus 3CL protease inhibitor for the potential treatment of COVID19," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Susanne Kessler & Bradly Burke & Geoffroy Andrieux & Jan Schinköthe & Lea Hamberger & Johannes Kacza & Shijun Zhan & Clara Reasoner & Taru S. Dutt & Maria Kaukab Osman & Marcela Henao-Tamayo & Julian , 2024. "Deciphering bat influenza H18N11 infection dynamics in male Jamaican fruit bats on a single-cell level," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Yongzhu Xiong & Yunpeng Wang & Feng Chen & Mingyong Zhu, 2020. "Spatial Statistics and Influencing Factors of the COVID-19 Epidemic at Both Prefecture and County Levels in Hubei Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-26, May.
    11. Eugene Song & Jae-Eun Lee & Seola Kwon, 2021. "Effect of Public Empathy with Infection-Control Guidelines on Infection-Prevention Attitudes and Behaviors: Based on the Case of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Jaeyong Lee & Calem Kenward & Liam J. Worrall & Marija Vuckovic & Francesco Gentile & Anh-Tien Ton & Myles Ng & Artem Cherkasov & Natalie C. J. Strynadka & Mark Paetzel, 2022. "X-ray crystallographic characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease polyprotein cleavage sites essential for viral processing and maturation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    13. Xu, Baochang & Li, Sihui & Afzal, Ayesha & Mirza, Nawazish & Zhang, Meng, 2022. "The impact of financial development on environmental sustainability: A European perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Nur Hannani Bi Rahman & Shazmin Shareena A. Azis & Ibrahim Sipan, 2021. "COVID-19: Standard Operating Procedure Improvement For Green Office Building Using Indoor Environmental Quality," LARES lares-2021-4dqg, Latin American Real Estate Society (LARES).
    15. Eduardo Gutiérrez-Abejón & Eduardo Tamayo & Débora Martín-García & F. Javier Álvarez & Francisco Herrera-Gómez, 2020. "Clinical Profile, Treatment and Predictors during the First COVID-19 Wave: A Population-Based Registry Analysis from Castile and Leon Hospitals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-15, December.
    16. Meriem Bekliz & Kenneth Adea & Pauline Vetter & Christiane S. Eberhardt & Krisztina Hosszu-Fellous & Diem-Lan Vu & Olha Puhach & Manel Essaidi-Laziosi & Sophie Waldvogel-Abramowski & Caroline Stephan , 2022. "Neutralization capacity of antibodies elicited through homologous or heterologous infection or vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Lubing Wang & Xufeng Zhao & Peng Wu, 2025. "Large-scale emergency medical services scheduling during the outbreak of epidemics," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 348(1), pages 445-469, May.
    18. Maria de Lourdes Aguiar-Oliveira & Aline Campos & Aline R. Matos & Caroline Rigotto & Adriana Sotero-Martins & Paulo F. P. Teixeira & Marilda M. Siqueira, 2020. "Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) and Viral Detection in Polluted Surface Water: A Valuable Tool for COVID-19 Surveillance—A Brief Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-19, December.
    19. Daiki Yamaguchi & Odgerel Chimed-Ochir & Yui Yumiya & Eisaku Kishita & Tomoyuki Akita & Junko Tanaka & Tatsuhiko Kubo, 2024. "Potential Risk Factors to COVID-19 Severity: Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Delta- and Omicron-Dominant Periods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-11, March.
    20. Dunbar, Kwamie, 2022. "Impact of the COVID-19 event on U.S. banks’ financial soundness," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    21. Jian Rong & Achi Haider & Troels E. Jeppesen & Lee Josephson & Steven H. Liang, 2023. "Radiochemistry for positron emission tomography," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-23, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11956-:d:667649. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.