Since travel, work, and industry were restricted, global carbon emissions were highly influenced. All scientific predictions were overturned. 2020 was predicted to show an increased level of CO2 emissions, but the coronavirus pandemic changed all that.
The 5% reduction in CO2 emissions is the most significant drop in history. Billions of barrels of oil, trillions of cubic meters of gas, and millions of tons of coal will be saved from polluting Earth’s atmosphere.
About 2.5bn tons of Co2 will be stopped to destroy the air we breathe. And this drop is the biggest one in the last decade. Even more so, if the drops in the last half of the century were combined, the result would still be lower than the 2.5bn tons that the coronavirus pandemic helps being alleviated from the atmosphere.
According to The Guardian, this anticipation is sustained by Dr. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency. But Dr. Birol is not happy about it. “This decline is happening because of the economic meltdown in which thousands of people are losing their livelihoods, not as a result of the right government decisions in terms of climate policies,” he said.
The Recent Lockdown Reduced The CO2 Emissions
Since the beginning of industrialization, the curb of CO2 emissions kept rising, with only a few noticeable decreases from time to time, with the decline always having something to do with the way industry evolved. The more developed became the industry, the higher the carbon emissions.
Once people started driving personal cars, the emissions increased once more. When people began traveling by planes on a daily bases, thus polluting, even more, the Earth’s health was already compromised.
Four historic times marked the most critical drops in carbon emissions: World War II in 1945, the recession in the 70s, then the recession in the 80s, and finally, the financial crisis in 2009. Each devastating event caused the most welcoming drops in CO2 emissions. It’s a fierce antagonism between humans and Earth. When one is thriving, the other one is suffering.
And now, it is happening once again. Earth’s entire population is facing a terrifying virus, and that forces them to diminish their usual activity. They don’t go to work unless they absolutely have to, they don’t use their cars because they are in lockdown, they don’t travel because traveling is forbidden. And in the meantime, Earth is healing.
“The reason we want to see emissions decline is that we want a more livable planet and happier, healthier people,” said Dr. Birol. Why do we need such disasters to understand the importance of the CO2 emissions decline?
