Covid-19 and Green Recovery? Euronews
Economic shutdowns due to Covid-19 demonstrate a quieter world with cleaner air, wiht carbon emissions reduced by more than 8 percent between January and April from the same period in 2019. “This is massively significant: 8 per cent is roughly half of what America emits in an entire year and would be the biggest drop since the Second World War,” writes Darren McCaffrey for Euronews. For the world to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade would require cutting emissions by 8 percent every year for the next decade, McCaffrey notes. Costs of solar and wind power have fallen in recent years, and governments could provide incentives to use renewables and reduce subsidies for fossil fuels. The largest economies use the pandemic to re-embrace fossil fuels: The United States is lifting regulations, and China is reopening coal-fired power plants. McCaffrey concludes that the pandemic foreshadows the hardship to come with climate disasters. Humans can avoid disease, property destruction, food shortages and other consequences of climate change with investment and political will. – YaleGlobal
Covid-19 and Green Recovery? Euronews
Carbon emissions plummet with Covid-19 economic lockdowns; some governments try incentives to keep air clean and reduce reliance on fossil fuels
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Read the article from Euronews about reduced carbon emissions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Darren McCaffrey is Euronews' political editor.
Also read a report from the Harvard School of Public Health on how air pollution is linked with higher Covid-19 death rates.
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