The Good News of the Week: Lowest CO2-emissions levels since 2010

Clear, blue skies over Delhi, clean water in Venice and animals enjoying silent city streets. The proofs of positive bi-effects on nature of the coronavirus measures are reported from across the world. The changes that now have come about in just a few weeks, have given results that climate activists have been fighting for for years. At a tremendous cost, of course, but nevertheless: This costly experience has shown us that change is possible. And the proofs given by the blue skies and clear waters might serve as motivation for new development, knowing that these effects are also possible to obtain by using new technologies and green transition, no virus required. 

The figures show that global CO2 emissions are set to fall by 8 per cent in 2020, reaching their lowest level since 2010. This is the biggest decrease in emissions ever recorded – almost six times larger than the drop caused by the financial crisis in 2009. Global demand for energy is set to fall by 6 percent – which equals the entire energy demand of India for one year. 

A report from April showed that some of the largest, most polluted cities in the world, experienced a reduction of air pollution of between 25 and 60 %. Cities included in the report were Delhi, London, Los Angeles, New York, Madrid, Mumbai, Rome, Sao Paolo, Seoul and Wuhan. The report examined fine particle pollution in the air during lockdown, compared to the same period in 2019. Pollution had dropped dramatically in all cities, except Rome. 

These statistics are of course the effects of the severe changes we all have made in our lives during the lock down period: Closed schools, home office, travel restrictions and quarantene. The question now is what will happen when restrictions are lifted. Will the world, and we, go back to the life we used to live? Will the effects be wiped out as soon as they came about? Or has the crisis thought us some lessons we can bring with us into the future?

Across the globe, people have shown willingness to adapt to new ways of life and to follow restrictions given by the authorities. We have learned new habits, including digital meetings and home schooling. 

-We have found some new values in life, and maybe we have learned that a more sustainable way of life is not necessarily a duller one, says Fløgstad. – It is not given that the best alternative is to go back to life we used to have. Now that we have seen the effects on nature of our changed behavior, we might be motivated to continue some of these changes, also post corona. 

History has shown that crisis might be an opportunity for change, and across the globe, leaders and activists are now echoing Winston Churchills famous words: “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Governments to seize the opportunity to “build back better” by creating more sustainable, resilient and inclusive societies. On Earth Day in April, he proposed six climate-related actions to shape the recovery from the coronavirus, comprising green transition, sustainable growth and international cooperation. 

His last point was underscored by Nobel Peace Prize laureate His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who in a statement earlier this month called for the world to come together in a “coordinated, global response” to the crisis. “Our human capacity to reason and to see things realistically gives us the ability to transform hardship into opportunity.”