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Carbon emissions are deeply embedded in our lifestyle – the challenge post-pandemic

Observer 18th Oct 2020, The fall in global carbon emissions since the coronavirus outbreak may
appear to be one of the few silver linings from the pandemic, but even this
wafer-thin glimmer looks set to fade. The International Energy Agency (IEA)
estimated last week that carbon emissions from the energy industry had
fallen by up to 7% this year, but warned in the same breath that this
seemed unlikely to last.

As global economies emerge from lockdown,
factories will whir back to life, the world’s steel furnaces and power
plants will fire up once again, and passenger planes will return to the
air. The brief reprieve from rising emissions in 2020 could be followed by
the greatest surge in emissions growth on record.

Perhaps the most important lesson governments can learn from the current emissions lull is
how deeply embedded the sources of carbon dioxide are in the systems of our
everyday lives. That it has taken an unprecedented upending of society to
shave 7% from the world’s carbon footprint reveals the challenge ahead if
we hope to eliminate carbon entirely.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/18/the-bank-must-not-fear-radical-action-britain-needs-negative-interest-rates

October 19, 2020 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | 2 WORLD, climate change