During lockdown 1.0, noticeable environmental changes occurred. Due to the fact that only a tiny percentage of the population was allowed to travel during that time, air pollution levels dropped dramatically, as did CO2 emissions due to reduced travel and the fact that some industries shut down.
Despite the incredible clear skies and vistas that we all experienced in the first lockdown, the temporary drop in emissions had little impact on the continued rise in atmospheric concentrations of CO2, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has found. Whilst the lockdown helped to reduce carbon emissions by around 17% at their peak, the overall effect on concentrations has been small.
It is therefore expected that overall rises in CO2 this year will be by around 0.23 parts per million compared to last year. The emissions increased by 2.6 parts per million in 2019 when compared to 2018.
Professor Petteri Taalas, WMO secretary general, said, "We breached the global threshold of 400 parts per million in 2015, and just four years later, we crossed 410 ppm, such a rate of increase has never been seen in the history of our records." Adding, "The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph. We need a sustained flattening of the curve."
Whilst we can't obtain an overall picture for 2020 emissions yet, some data gives an indication of the minimal impact of the lockdowns on emission rises. For example, an atmospheric monitoring station in Hawaii recorded CO2 levels of 411.29 parts per million in September, which is an increase of 2.75 parts per million from the previous year. A similar figure was recorded at a separate measurement station in Tasmania.
Whilst Professor Taalas has iterated that the pandemic is not a solution for climate change, he did point out that it provided a platform for further action.
