Researchers argue that efforts to control climate change require international coordination like new coronavirus countermeasures

In China, one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters, CO2 emissions have risen by as much as 25% in one month due to the response to the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its infectious disease (COVID-19) We know it has been reduced. Researchers suggest that, as in the case of this pandemic, if climate change is regarded as an 'emergency,' the same level of international cooperation is needed.

Coronavirus and climate change: A tale of two crises | Environment | All topics from climate change to conservation | DW | 05.03.2020

In order to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, economic activities in China are severely restricted. This is evident in satellite images of NASA and the European Space Agency, which show reduced levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in the atmosphere. The left shows NO₂ values from January 1 to 20, 2020, and the right shows NO₂ values from February 10 to 25, 2020. It can be seen that the dark part indicating 500 μmol / ㎡ or more is completely gone.

Controlling climate change is one of the issues that the world is cooperating with, and each country sets its own reduction targets under the international agreement, the Paris Agreement. In the case of China, the content is to make a maximum effort to reduce CO₂ emissions as soon as possible, with a peak around 2030. Therefore, it is normal for CO2 emissions to increase until 2030.

However, according to Lauri Myllivirta of the Energy and Air Purification Research Center at the University of Helsinki, it has been confirmed that reduced economic activity in China has reduced CO₂ emissions by 25%.

The stagnation and contraction of economic activity was not limited to China. Flybe, an airline whose business had deteriorated due to the UK's withdrawal from the EU and soaring oil prices, went bankrupt due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection. A series of cancellations of international conferences and events are projected to slow global economic growth. The decline in oil demand is expected since the 2008 financial crisis.

John Ericsson, an economist at the Gand Research Institute at the University of Vermont, shows in recent weeks that the world can move quickly if `` it needs urgency to get out of the crisis. '' 'If you really treat climate change as an emergency, just as you treat a pandemic as an emergency, you need the same level of international coordination.'

However, according to Myllivirta, China's export industry was severely damaged during the financial crisis in 2008, and air pollution was mitigated. It is said that emissions increased rapidly.

Again, it is reported that the concentration of pollutants has been rising again as economic activity in China has been on a recovery track, and environmental improvements may be temporary.

China's economic activity shows signs of recovery-air pollutant levels rise again-Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-03-04/Q6NB94DWRGG201