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Coronavirus and climate change are two crises that need humanity to unite
(Climate Home News, 12 Mar 2020) Coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. It will have a huge global impact in 2020, not only on health and wellbeing, but also on our societies, economies and politics.
It is worth thinking through at this point what the impact of the pandemic may be on climate change and climate actions – in terms of emissions, global and national politics and social change.
The drop in global emissions caused by the coronavirus will reflect the level of its impact on global economic activity.
Reports have already shown that measures to contain it have caused output across key industrial sectors in China to drop by as much as 40%, which is likely to have wiped out a quarter or more of its carbon emissions since February.
Obviously, a drop in emissions is not a bad thing from a purely climate change perspective. But what counts in terms of meaningful action to address the climate crisis is long-term structural change, in particular replacing fossil fuels as fast as possible from all sectors.
Climate Home News, 12 Mar 2020: Coronavirus and climate change are two crises that need humanity to unite
