4. Summary and conclusion
The current research identified and evaluated the most critical lessons
and areas of concern of the public and experts regarding COVID-19 and
climate change. It highlighted the most important lessons from the
COVID-19 pandemic that are relevant to climate change crises. Lessons
learned from public input in the first survey and the literature review
were gathered and evaluated according to their potential contribution to
guide fighting the climate crisis. To verify these lessons, a subsequent
survey was conducted. To validate the results and to involve scientific
opinion, experts from relevant fields concerning either climate change
or the COVID-19 pandemic were consulted. The findings of the expert
survey validate and support the results that have been derived from the
main surveys. This is evidenced by the lack of significant differences
in the opinion of both groups. The lessons learned with the highest
score included lessons on policy, decision-making, and how scientific
facts should guide and be integrated more into the decision-making
process and on long-term strategies, including green investments and
risk reduction measurements. Although there were differences in the
judgments on the relevance of different thematic areas, such as economy,
and perception and behavior, the overall ratings for both the categories
and lessons learned were relatively high and, therefore, underline the
importance of this research’s findings. On average, the scores from the
experts were relatively higher, but this could be explained by the
experts having more experience in the areas of COVID-19 and climate
change compared to the public and, therefore, are more aware of the
risks and the urgency of action. The findings of this research convey
important messages on which thematic areas and action measures of the
COVID-19 pandemic and put together the most critical lessons that, if
tackled, would have the greatest positive impact along the way of
fighting climate change. To expand the findings made within the research
of this paper, future research could focus on investigating which of the
methods endorsed by the public are effective measures against climate
change.