CO2 emissions still rising despite a temporary pandemic slowdown

JoAnna Wendel 8.25.2020 8:00 PM Climate Crisis Shutterstock

As the human world all but ground to a halt in the latter half of 2020, scientists reported that global carbon dioxide emissions fell by 8 percent. Shutterstock

Some wondered: Did the pandemic have a silver lining in reducing our overall CO2 emissions, the leading cause of the current climate crisis? Shutterstock

Shutterstock Unfortunately, that answer is no. While emissions might have fallen, scientists say that the total accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere continues to rise. The reduction didn't make a difference in the overall trend.

Here are the reasons why.

Shutterstock The atmosphere takes time to cycle: Although the most strictly locked-down cities might have seen a 75 percent reduction in CO2 emissions, gases cycle slowly through the atmosphere, so this drop won’t appear in the global data for many more months.

Shutterstock There are also natural variations of carbon dioxide emission that uptake year to year or decade to decade. A strong El Niño or massive wildfires can lead to less CO2 uptake or more CO2 emissions.

Shutterstock/Roschetzky Photography Although this year’s drop is significant relative to the years before, it’s not so significant to outweigh the natural variation of carbon dioxide emissions from human and natural sources.

Shutterstock To achieve the goals laid out by the Paris Agreement — to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celcius — scientists say we’d need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3 to 7 percent per year. One year of pandemic-induced reductions won’t cut it.

Read more about the ongoing climate crisis here .

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