Coronavirus Lockdowns Cause Record Drop In CO2 Emissions In 2020

Kathleen Kinder
Kathleen Kinder

Updated · Dec 16, 2020

SHARE:

News.Market.us is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
close
Advertiser Disclosure

At Market.us News, we strive to bring you the most accurate and up-to-date information by utilizing a variety of resources, including paid and free sources, primary research, and phone interviews. Our data is available to the public free of charge, and we encourage you to use it to inform your personal or business decisions. If you choose to republish our data on your own website, we simply ask that you provide a proper citation or link back to the respective page on Market.us News. We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to provide valuable insights for our audience.

There has been a steep fall in global carbon emissions in 2020. A new study said that the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic caused a record drop in CO2 emissions worldwide. It said that CO2 emissions declined by 2.4 billion tonnes this year. Several countries imposed strict lockdowns for months to break the chain of coronavirus. As a result, factories and industrial activities were closed in many parts of the world. The closure of factories caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline. The study noted that the drop in CO2 emission is much higher than past records. Earlier in 1981 and 2009, the CO2 emissions dropped by 0.5 billion tonnes, 0.7 billion tonnes in 1992, and 0.9 billion tonnes in 1945.

The UNEP’s emission gap report said that CO2 globally is predicted to fall by 7 percent in 2020. It added that the world is still facing the risk of a temperature rise of 3 degrees Celsius in the current century. The fall in the emission will translate to a 0.01 degree Celsius drop in global warming by 2050. According to the UN, 2020 is also on the verge of becoming the warmest year. The report noted the wildfire, droughts, and storms continue to affect many parts of the world. This is the main reason why 2020 is on course to become the warmest year.

It is that emissions from road transport and aviation are estimated to be 10 percent low than in 2019. The report also assessed the gap between the Paris pact and anticipated emissions. Under the Paris Agreement, as many as 195 countries have agreed to work to reduce carbon emission to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius in the current century. Notably, greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 1.4 percent every year since 2010. China ranked one in terms of overall emission in 2019 with 14 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. The USA stood second with 6.6 GtCO2e. It was followed by the European Union and Britain with 4.3 GtCO2e. India was the fourth-highest nation with 3.7 GtCO2e.

SHARE:
Kathleen Kinder

Kathleen Kinder

With over 4 years of experience in the research industry, Kathleen is generally engrossed in market consulting projects, catering primarily to domains such as ICT, Health & Pharma, and packaging. She is highly proficient in managing both B2C and B2B projects, with an emphasis on consumer preference analysis, key executive interviews, etc. When Kathleen isn’t deconstructing market performance trajectories, she can be found hanging out with her pet cat ‘Sniffles’.