Pandemic caused 8.8% decline in CO2 emissions -Study

Restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic led to an 8.8 per cent worldwide decline in carbon dioxide emissions in the first half of 2020, an Institute said.

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) said this in a study released on Wednesday.

Measures imposed by national governments, which included border closures, curfews and other restrictions on movement caused a 1.6 billion ton reduction in CO2 emissions in the January to June period compared to the same period in 2019, the institute said.

Zhu Liu of Tsinghua University, the study’s main author, said that the research showed a correlation between individual countries’ lockdown measures and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

The study, which relied on data from Carbon Monitor, a website that tracks daily carbon dioxide emissions showed that in April, the month that many countries first imposed lockdowns, the CO2 reduction reached 16.9 per cent in 2019.