Earth Day 2021: What is the impact of Covid-19 on the Earth’s climate?

The Corona epidemic destroyed all previous records of carbon emission reductions in a year.

During the lockdown last year, pictures of positive changes in nature were seen worldwide. The situation of rivers, wind and noise was improved. Talking about carbon emissions, after World War II ie 76 years, it saw a record 7 percent decline. While this terrible epidemic has affected a large population of the world, it has also affected the climate. Let’s know what has changed in this epidemic on Earth.

Record reduction in carbon emissions after 76 years, but this year may be the fastest increase.

The Corona epidemic has destroyed all previous records of carbon emission reductions over a period of one year. According to the annual report of the Global Carbon Project, during the year 2020, carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by a record seven percent. Earlier, during the end of the second world war i.e. 1945, a decline of 0.9 billion metric tons was seen. The reason for this decline has been attributed to the lockdown in countries around the world.

• In 2009, due to the global financial crisis, carbon emissions had decreased by 0.5 billion metric tons. But in 2020, this decline reached 2.4 billion metric tons. According to the researcher, the fall in emissions came because most of the people were at their homes and they made very few trips this year by car or plane.
• At the same time, the industrial sector contributes about 22 percent of the global carbon emissions. In some countries, the region’s emissions were reduced by 30 percent due to strict lockdowns. The US and the European Union saw the greatest reduction in emissions. There was a decline of 12 and 11 percent respectively. But in China this decline was only 1.7 percent, as it is moving rapidly towards economic recovery.

Only last year, scientist Pierre Friedlingston of Exeter University in England had said that this improvement in environment is for a short time. Since after the Covid-19 epidemic, the world will again go back to its old routine to deal with the economic crisis in the world. By next year i.e. by 2021, the situation of carbon emissions will again reach there itself.

At the same time, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its recent report has estimated 1.5 billion tonnes more carbon emissions than energy consumption in 2021. According to the report of the Energy Agency, this will be the second largest increase in energy emissions in history. The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency says that the economy coming out of the Corona epidemic is not sustainable at all for our climate. If governments do not cut carbon emissions at a rapid pace, then in 2022, we may have to face a worse situation.

• According to the report, gaseous emissions had reduced due to global lockdown last year, but as people started moving and industrial activities started gaining momentum, it started gaining momentum. The International Energy Agency estimates that this year (in 2021) global energy demand will increase by 4.6 percent, crossing the level from 2019. The reason for this is the increasing use of energy in developing and emerging economies.
• According to data published by the energy and climate research group Amber, China produced more than 53 percent of the world’s total coal-based electricity in 2020. It has increased by nine percent since 2015. In the “2021 Global Electricity Review” China was the only country in the G20 to have made a significant leap in coal-fired power generation. This jump saw an increase in coal-to-electricity generation despite China recording impressive production in wind and solar power. Amber’s According to the data, in the year 2020, 71.7 GW of wind power and 48.2 GW of solar power was generated in China.
• According to the Paris Climate Agreement, one to two billion metric tons of emissions are required to be cut every year in this decade, only then the temperature rise of the Earth can be kept below two degrees Celsius. But after the agreement reached in 2015, emissions have increased continuously every year.
• The United Nations says that the ambitious goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius can be achieved only by a reduction of 7.6 percent every year by 2030.

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Climate change and economy

Only a few days ago, ‘The State of the Global Climate 2020’ report of The State of the Global Climate 2020 has been released. This report said that the changing season, together with Covid-19, has caused a double shock to millions of people in 2020. The report said that Cyclone Amfan, which hit the border areas of India and Bangladesh in May last year, was the most damaging in the northern Indian Ocean. Due to this cyclone, India has suffered economic losses of about US $ 14 billion. This report also said that the economic downturn related to the epidemic has failed to control climate change factors.

• According to the WMO report State of the Global Climate 2020, the economic downturn related to the epidemic has failed to control climate change factors.
• According to a study published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) joint program compared projections of economic activity around the world by 2035. This study found that Covid-19 caused a 8.2 percent decrease in global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, but is projected to decrease by only 2 percent in 2035. To meet national climate targets through Paris 2030 can be accomplished despite economic disruption. The reduction in GDP resulted in a 3.4 percent reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, but is projected to decrease by only 1 percent in 2030.
• The researchers also noted that various structural changes in the economy could result in the impact of large government deficits during the epidemic, such as air travel, traffic reductions, and business activity in restaurants. All these reduced emissions; after 2020, these reductions will reduce compared to the aftermath of the epidemic.
• According to the MIT study, our estimates for worldwide economic activity with and without pandemics show only a small effect of COVID-19 on emissions in 2030 and beyond. Although epidemic-induced economic shocks will have little direct impact on emissions in the long run, they may well have a significant indirect effect on the level of investment that nations are willing to make to meet their Paris emission targets.

Political change

During the presidential election in the US last year, Biden said that if he wins, he will rejoin the US in the climate change agreement. During a question, he said that my first job would be to join the Paris Agreement. Everyone knows that one reason behind Trump’s departure and Biden’s arrival was that Trump could not handle the epidemic properly.

• The US administration is advancing the climate agenda as part of the process of epidemic resuscitation. Biden signed an executive order to join the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement as soon as he took power, leading Trump to formally withdraw from the US last year.
• After 107 days of separation from the Paris Climate Agreement, the US has officially joined it once again. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres described it as a ‘day of hope’ for the world.
• A few days ago, China and the United States have said that both countries are committed to working with each other and with other countries to tackle climate change. The joint statement of several meetings in Shanghai last week between China’s climate envoy Xi Zhenhua and his US counterpart John Kerry said, “The US and China collaborate with each other and other countries to deal with the climate crisis.” Committed. This crisis needs to be resolved seriously and immediately.

Corona epidemic impact on population

If our Earth is moaning, one reason is that the population is increasing wildly. During the initial round of lockdown of Corona last year, several agencies, including UNICEF, predicted that the world birth rate would rise sharply and impact on the population next year, but with the rising havoc of Corona, May, June and July came. In the US, Europe and all Asian countries, the birth rate was expected to decrease by 30 to 50 percent. A survey by the London School of Economics said that the Corona era would cause a decline in population rather than a boom.

• In this survey, it was said that in the European countries Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Britain, 50 to 60 percent of the youth aged 18-34 had said to postpone the plan to pursue a family for a year.
• In France and Germany, 50 percent of the young couples had said that they were postponing the child’s plan due to the epidemic. In Britain, 58 per cent said that they would not even think about moving families at the moment. In Italy, 38 percent and more than 50 percent of the youth in Spain said that their financial and mental condition is not such that they will be able to take care of the child. Only 23 per cent said that it should not make a difference.
• According to the US Census Bureau data, between 2019 and 2020, the population of America has been the lowest increase in the last 120 years. American experts say that it shows the number of people who died of Corona virus in the country. Researcher William Frye, associated with the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, says that the decrease in population growth rate shows the extent to which Corona has affected us. Frey also said that ‘in my eyes this is the first glimpse of where we are going, because the rate of population has come down. Statistics show that Corona has an impact on population growth rate ‘