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COVID-19 restrictions have yet to affect CO2 levels
The quarantine helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but in the long term, this is a minor fluctuation, the UN explained.
Industrial restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have not had a tangible effect on the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Associated Press reports this with reference to the UN World Meteorological Organization on Monday, November 23.
“The drop in gas emissions associated with the closures is just a small deviation on a long graph. We need a stable plateau (with gas emissions – ed.),” Said WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not “a solution to the problem of climate change,” Taalas said.
Emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases have been reduced due to restrictive measures, but the record levels in the atmosphere, a result of long-term pollution, have not decreased significantly and current changes in rates are within the limits. normal annual averages.
The WMO cites data that at the peak of restrictive measures in the world with a partial shutdown of the industry, carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by 17%. Figures for all of 2020 are not yet available, however, according to WMO estimates, it can only be a 4.2 to 7.5% decrease on an international scale.
At the same time, 2019 set a record for growth in carbon dioxide emissions, and purifying the atmosphere of these gases is “a very slow process,” Taalas summarized.
Earlier, the UN said that the consequences of climate change will be worse than a pandemic. The climate crisis will have such consequences, against which the coronac crisis will fade, says the UN secretary general.
Scientists also predicted an impending climate catastrophe. The world has already passed the “point of no return” of global warming, and even a complete reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will not stop the rise in temperatures.
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