Planet Shock: Coronavirus Has Had Stunning Impact on Global Carbon Emissions

Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

Global carbon emissions are reportedly down by 17 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

According to a study in Nature Climate Change, “Daily global CO2 emissions decreased by –17% (–11 to –25% for ±1σ) by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels, just under half from changes in surface transport.”

“At their peak, emissions in individual countries decreased by –26% on average,” the report continued, noting, “The impact on 2020 annual emissions depends on the duration of the confinement, with a low estimate of –4% (–2 to –7%) if prepandemic conditions return by mid-June, and a high estimate of –7% (–3 to –13%) if some restrictions remain worldwide until the end of 2020.”

“Government actions and economic incentives postcrisis will likely influence the global CO2 emissions path for decades,” they declared.

One of the study’s authors, Corinne Le Quéré, told NBC News, “Globally, we haven’t seen a drop this big ever, and at the yearly level, you would have to go back to World War II to see such a big drop in emissions.”

“But this is not the way to tackle climate change — it’s not going to happen by forcing behavior changes on people,” she continued. “We need to tackle it by helping people move to more sustainable ways of living.”

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