On the indirect environmental outcomes of COVID-19: short-term revival with futuristic long-term implications Muhammad Irfan a , Munir Ahmad b , Zeeshan Fareed c , Najaf Iqbal d , Arshian Sharif e and Haitao Wu a,f a School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China; b School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; c School of Business, Huzhou University, Huzhou City, China; d School of Finance, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu, China; e Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia 06010, Sintok, Malaysia; f Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to identify and highlight the positive and negative indirect environmental impacts of COVID-19, with a particular focus on the most afected economies (USA, China, Spain, and Italy). In this respect, the empirical and theoretical dimensions of the contents of those impacts are analyzed. Research fndings reveal a signifcant relationship between contingency actions and positive indirect impacts such as air quality improvements, clean beaches, and the decline in environmental noise. Besides, negative indirect impacts also exist, such as the rise in waste level and curtailment in recycling, further threatening the physical spaces (land and water), besides air. It is expected that global businesses will revive in the near future (though slowly), but the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions during this short time span is not a sustainable way of environ- mental mitigation. Thus, long-term mitigation policies should be strength- ened to cope with the undesirable deterioration of the environment. Research fndings provide an up-to-date glimpse of the pandemic from the perspectives of current and future indirect environmental impacts and the post-pandemic situation. Finally, it is suggested to invent and prepare action plans to induce a sustainable economic and environmental future in the post-pandemic world scenario. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 4 December 2020 Accepted 8 January 2021 KEYWORDS COVID-19; environmental impact; pandemic; social distancing Introduction The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) has produced unparalleled efects worldwide. Every country has been severely afected by this deadly virus (Razzaq et al. 2020). As of December 24 th , 2020, the confrmed COVID-19 cases reached 79 M with 1.73 M deaths globally (Worldometers 2020). Governments are striving to fght against the virus by substantial diagnosis tests and launching guidelines of social distancing. The intention is to provide human health a top priority. For instance, strict social distancing actions were put into efect in the Hubei province of China at the end of 2019 (Du et al. 2020) and later implemented in almost all countries of the world. However, the Governments’ guidelines around the world did not positively change the public’s behavior regarding the pandemic, particularly in democratic countries. Simultaneously, the autocratic Governments such as China remained successful in shaping their people’s prevention behavior (Ahmad et al. 2020). Despite this, heavily afected countries have enforced the economic shut-down measures to check the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak. CONTACT Muhammad Irfan irfan@ncepu.edu.cn School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China; Munir Ahmad munirahmad@zju.edu.cn; Haitao Wu 15875706@qq.com INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2021.1874888 © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group