Decrease in CO2 emissions during pandemic shutdown shows it is possible to reach Paris Agreement goals

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

It is possible to reduce emissions enough to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius global temperature increase goal, according to an international team of researchers. The study of aspects of the sudden drop of CO 2 emissions in early 2020 is described in a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience. A summary of the findings of the group has been published by the editors at Nature Geoscience.

Nobody knew how quickly the coronaviruses could spread or how deadly it was. Governments around the world ordered people to stay home. The economy came to a halt. Air pollution was greatly reduced due to the reduction in truck and automobile traffic. The researchers took a closer look at the reductions in CO 2 that took place during the first year of the Pandemic.

In 2015, countries around the world met in Paris and signed pledges to try to reduce greenhouse gas emission to the extent that average global temperature would not rise above 2 degrees. The goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius will not be achieved due to current efforts.

In 2020, the researchers found a decline of 6.3%, which was 2,200 metric tons less than the year before. The drop is large enough to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal if it were to be sustained. It wasn't sustained. After the restrictions were lifted, people went back to work and the levels of CO 2 emissions went up.

According to the researchers, the 2020 reductions show that the Paris Agreement goals are possible, and that it might be possible to make similar reductions without disrupting the global economy. A third of the reduction in 2020 was due to a reduction in traffic. Electric vehicles powered by Renewably Resourced Electricity could become the norm if countries applied more pressure on automakers and consumers.

More information: Zhu Liu et al, Global patterns of daily CO2 emissions reductions in the first year of COVID-19, Nature Geoscience (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-00965-8

Global CO2 emission patterns are revealed daily. The DOI is 10.1038/s41561-022-0.

Journal information: Nature Geoscience

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