Global carbon emissions decline during COVID-19
NATURE RESEARCH - Climate sciences: Empty streets are the order of the day now that Covid-19 has forced lockdowns in many places. Daily global CO 2 emissions fell by 17% by early April 2020, compared to mean 2019 levels, as a result of governments’ policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19, suggests a paper in Nature Climate Change . Policies implemented by governments to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have had a significant impact on energy demand globally. With much of the world’s population confined to their homes and international borders closed, consumption and transportation rates have fallen. However, the lack of real-time global emissions data has made it difficult to quantify the impacts. Corinne Le Quéré and colleagues reviewed a combination of energy, activity and policy data available up to end of April 2020 to estimate the changes in daily CO 2 emissions compared to 2019. Changes in CO 2 emissions were estimated across six economic sectors — pow