The world, plagued by the Locked C-Down epidemic, has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 7% this year, the largest drop ever, according to new preliminary figures.
Global Carbon Project, An authorized group of dozens of international scientists who have tracked emissions, calculated that the world will release 37 billion US tons (34 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air by 2020. That’s down from 40.1 billion US tons (36.4 billion metric tons) in 2019, according to a study published on Thursday..
Scientists say the drop is mainly because people are sitting at home, traveling less by car and plane, and emissions can jump back after the epidemic is over. Climate transport is one-fifth of carbon dioxide emissions, the main man-made heat emitted gas.
“Of course, lockdowns are not the way to fully cope with climate change,” said Corinne Lecuier, co-author of the Climate Scientific Study at the University of East Anglia.
A similar group of scientists predicted a 4% to 7% drop in emissions, based on the progression of COVID-19 months ago. The second coronavirus wave and the steady decline in travel pushed the decline to %%, Liqueur said.
Emissions fell 12% in the United States and 11% in Europe, but only 1.7% in China. That’s because there was a previous lockdown in China with the second wave of low revenue. China’s emissions have a greater industrial impact than other countries and its industries have been less affected than transportation, Lecure said.
The calculations – based on reports of calculations of energy consumption, industrial production and daily mobility – were praised by outside scientists.
Despite the decline in 2020, an average of 1,185 tons (1,075 metric tons) of carbon dioxide is released into the air every second worldwide.
Final figures for 2019 published in the same study show that emissions from major man-made heat-trapping gases increased by only 0.1% from 2018 to 2019, much smaller than the annual surge a decade or two ago. Despite emissions expected to rise after the epidemic, scientists are wondering if 2019 is the peak of carbon pollution, Lukwer said.
“We are definitely very close to the top of emissions if we can keep the global community together,” said Achim Steiner, director of development at the United Nations.
Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, thinks emissions will increase after the epidemic, but said “I’m hopeful that society has learned some lessons that can help reduce emissions in the future.”
“For example,” he added, “because people get better at telecommuting a few days a week or realize they don’t need so many business trips, we’re going to see a reduction in behavior-related future emissions.”
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