New numbers from the World Meteorological Organization suggest a rapid decline in carbon dioxide levels as economies around the world grind to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic.
Petteri Taalas, the secretary-general of the United Nations’s weather agency, said the widespread shutdown is likely to cause a 6% drop in CO2 levels, the biggest drop in greenhouse gas emissions since World War II. But he stressed that even a dramatic reduction in CO2 isn’t enough to turn the tide against global climate change.
“COVID-19 may result in a temporary reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but it is not a substitute for sustained climate action,” Taalas said. “We need to show the same determination and unity against climate change as against COVID-19.”
Many businesses throughout the United States and around the world have been closed, and citizens have been ordered to stay at home in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. More than 22 million people filed unemployment claims in the U.S. since President Trump declared a national emergency, and a hunt for oil storage space has negatively affected gas prices.
The WMO projections were announced on Earth Day, a global holiday that supports environmental protectionism. Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg said the coronavirus pandemic proves world leaders are not thinking “long term” about the implications of environmental degradation.
A global climate report released by the WMO on Wednesday found 2015-2019 to be the hottest consecutive five years in recorded history.
