A new study shows the coronavirus pandemic has led to significant drops in carbon emissions due to the reduced energy demand.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency unveiled in its annual Global Energy Review that countries in full lockdowns are experiencing an average 25% decline in energy demand per week. Countries in partial lockdowns are averaging an 18% decline.
In the first quarter of 2020, global energy demand declined by 3.8%, with much of the effects felt in March when social distancing and confinement measures increased in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere.
Demand for global coal and oil dropped most significantly, with coal falling by almost 8% compared with the first quarter of 2019 and oil falling by nearly 5%. Gas slipped moderately, falling by about 2%.
Electricity demand fell by about 20% in countries that had been experiencing a full lockdown, but demand for renewables grew slightly since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Worldwide carbon emissions, the greenhouse gas most responsible for climate change, are forecast to drop by about 8% in 2020. That’s a record decline thanks to the lockdowns.
Experts believe emission levels will continue to rise as economic conditions improve, making it unlikely that the current drop may help mitigate the growing concerns of climate change.
When burned, fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas have been responsible for releasing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Scientists confirmed the emissions have caused the planet’s temperatures to rise to levels unexplained by natural factors.
A report that came out last year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, comprising scientists summoned by the United Nations, says the world could see the consequences of climate change by 2040.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported the planet has seen a 2-degree temperature increase since the preindustrial era between 1800 and 1900.
