Coronavirus pandemic expected to reduce global carbon emission by 6 percent: WMO

In the biggest yearly drop since World War II, the coronavirus pandemic is expected to reduce the carbon emission down to 6%, the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday, April 22.

While speaking at a virtual press briefing in Geneva, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said that the global pandemic has impacted greenhouse gas emissionss due to a lack of transportation and industrial energy production across the world.  

Earlier, the European Union’s space agency’s earth-observation satellites reportedly detected a significant reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions. The agency’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service detected that with the “abrupt changes in activity levels” in northern Italy, there was a “reduction trend” of nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, for the last four to five weeks, as per reports. 

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Carbon dioxide remains same

Furthermore, similar drops in pollutants were detected in China after the government had implemented widespread shutdowns in the past months to stem the transmission of COVID-19 infection, as per media reports.

As per scientists, NO2 is a short-lived pollutant that stays in the atmosphere generally less than a day before being deposited or reacting with other gases, thus remaining fairly close to where it was emitted. Most greenhouse gas emissions are related to human activities such as traffic, energy production, residential heating, and industry. 

“It is quite remarkable that a signal of decreasing activity levels could be detected,” said Vincent-Henri Peuch, the director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, while speaking to the international media. “This shows the extent of the measures taken by Italy.”

However, scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder reportedly claimed that the rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, which is at its highest levels in at least 800,000 years, has not reduced overall despite coronavirus lockdown measures. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

COVID-19 has claimed more than 181,065 lives across the world and has infected over 2,592,373 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China was the most affected country until recently before Italy and Spain surpassed it to record the most number of deaths anywhere in the world due to COVID-19.

The United States and France have also surpassed China in terms of the number of deaths recorded in these countries. Iran and the United Kingdom are also on the verge of overtaking China in terms of deaths recorded. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally.

(With AP Inputs)