Point out that China's carbon dioxide emissions are reduced due to the effect of the new coronavirus and that it has a 'good effect on the environment'



China and other countries are desperately pursuing a containment policy to curb the spread of the

new coronavirus that is spreading worldwide from China and Wuhan. Containment policies that restrict human movement and activity have also had a significant impact on industrial activity, and a study published by the Finnish independent research institute Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) stated that `` new coronavirus Has significantly reduced China's carbon footprint. '

Analysis: Coronavirus has temporarily reduced China's CO2 emissions by a quarter
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coronavirus-has-temporarily-reduced-chinas-co2-emissions-by-a-quarter

Coronavirus outbreak slashes China carbon emissions: study | AFP.com
https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/coronavirus-outbreak-slashes-china-carbon-emissions-study-doc-1p40gg1

Coronavirus Cuts China's Emissions by 100 Million Tons | Time
https://time.com/5786634/coronavirus-carbon-emissions-china/



The new coronavirus, which was confirmed to infect humans in December 2019, is still rampant, mainly in Hubei Province, China, the

number of infected people at the time of writing the article was over 74,000 , the number of deaths Has also exceeded 2,000.

New virus China 108 new deaths 2112 deaths | NHK News



Meanwhile, the Chinese government has extended the Lunar New Year holiday to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, and the Chinese State Council has extended the Lunar New Year holiday to February 2 . In addition, in many regions, such as Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Shandong, the resumption of operation after the end of the New Year has been decided on February 10, and the Chinese government has stated that even if it affects the industry, it will be infected. Suppress the expansion of '.

Meanwhile, according to a study published by the CREA research team on February 19, 2020, China's carbon dioxide emissions in the two weeks from February 3 to 16, 2020 were 300 million tons. It is said that the carbon dioxide emission in the same period in 2019 was 400 million tons, which means that it decreased by 100 million tons from the previous year. 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions are close to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by Chile in South America in one year, equivalent to 6% of global carbon dioxide emissions during the same period.

Every year, in China Spring Festival , such as a number of stores and construction sites are closed during the period of, carbon dioxide emissions from the entire industrial sector in comparison with the before and after the Spring Festival is reduced, by the epidemic of 2020 further new coronavirus Spring Festival The period has been extended. 'The measures to contain the new coronavirus have reduced production by 15% to 40% across all major industrial sectors, which may have led to a 25% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions over the past two weeks. There is, 'said the research team.

The graph below shows the coal consumption of the coal-fired power plant before and after the Lunar New Year, and the point where the horizontal axis is '0' is the first day of the Lunar New Year. As shown by the blue line, coal consumption starts to increase about 7 to 10 days after the beginning of the Lunar New Year, but as shown by the red line, coal consumption in 2020 is three weeks after the beginning of the Lunar New Year. Consumption has not recovered.



In the two weeks since February 3, 2020, coal consumption at the power plant has fallen the most in the past four years, with no signs of recovery on February 16. A similar trend has been observed in a wide range of industrial sectors other than coal-fired power plants. That it is.

Analysis by the

International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries suggests that the outbreak of the new coronavirus will reduce oil demand by up to 0.5% between January and September 2020.

The image below shows the observation of nitrogen dioxide, an air pollutant closely related to the use of fossil fuels, from satellites, and shows the concentration of nitrogen dioxide on a map in color. Compared to the 2019 observations, it can be seen that in 2020, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide remains reduced even after the end of the Spring Festival.



In addition, the impact of virus containment measures in China and neighboring countries has had a major impact on airline operations. Over the two weeks in February 2020, passenger numbers on overseas flights from China have fallen by 50-90%, and domestic flights have reported a 60-70% drop in passenger numbers. Carbon dioxide emissions from passenger flights have decreased by 11% in two weeks due to flights canceled due to a decrease in the number of passengers.


by Alan Wilson

The research team believes that the decline in China's carbon footprint is likely to be temporary. The research team noted that if the Chinese government and companies try to catch up with the production delay after the epidemic of the new coronavirus has subsided, the carbon dioxide emissions may not only return to the original value but may increase more than usual. did.

in Science, Posted by log1h_ik