As the world comes to a standstill because of the pandemic, reduced travel and movement of all kinds reduces pollution. For how long?
You can see a different color on the city's horizon. It's the true color of the air we should always breathe. The grey cloud of pollution has been diminishing as Covid 19 has forced all of us to stop moving.
- Research from the University of East Anglia published in Nature Climate Change magazine states that daily carbon emissions worldwide were 17% lower compared to April 2019.
- There's even more positive news. Scientists say annual emissions could fall by another seven percent if the lockdown restrictions of some sort remain in place.
- Even the hole in the ozone layer, which was one of the most striking symptoms of global warming, has disappeared and the tissue that protects the earth from solar radiation has regenerated.
- Some countries, such as China, have recorded emission reductions of around 25%. The research indicates that the decrease in the United Kingdom reached about 31% by April. Every year, over 7 million people worldwide die from pollution-related diseases. This number has may reduce significantly this year.
But with nations already beginning to reopen certain parts of the economy, researchers say the annual decline in emissions would reach 4 per cent. This large drop in carbon emissions is due to the global lockdown, but as the world emerges from this terrible pandemic, will we return to polluting as before?