Written by Rizal Alfi R
Carbon dioxide emissions could drop by the largest since this year's World War II, as the
outbreak of coronavirus practically shuts down economies, Climate scientists had warned world governments that carbon emissions should drop by 2020 to avoid the worst effects of climate change. However, the steps are for all the wrong reasons linked to a global pandemic that has infected over 950,000 people, while factories are closing down, flights are grounded and hundreds of millions people are forced to stay at their home to slow down the pandemic.
The prediction among a range of new forecasts being produced by climate researchers represents a tiny sliver of good news in the midst of crisis: Experts warn that emissions from coronaviruses can be short-lived without systemic changes and have little effect on carbon dioxide concentrations stored in the atmosphere over decades. The pathway to quick recovery has already begun in China with an approximate 25 percent drop in emissions as the country shut down factories and introduced strict human movement steps to control the coronavirus at the beginning of this year,but have since returned to a normal range.
Such resilience highlights the scale of the economic transition needed to meet the goals set by the 2015 Paris-based international agreement to try to avoid the most serious scenarios of climate change. With the world dependent for fossil fuels for 80% of its energy, emissions forecasts are often based on projections for global economic growth. The world GDP will fall by at least 4% this year. That drop would be more than twice as large as the contraction during the global crisis, and the largest annual fall in GDP since 1931.
With governments implemented massive stimulus packages to stop their economies from weakening, investors are now watching the degree to which lower emission sources are being used for the United States and China, the EU, Japan and others.
In this year carbon dioxide is expected to decrease and carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced in the atmosphere.
Bibliography
Nasralla, S., Volcovici, V., & Green, M. (2020, April 4). Retrieved from https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/04/03/coronavirus-could-trigger-biggest-fall-in-carbon-emissions-since-world-war-two.html