The impact of COVID-19 on CO2 emissions

Have COVID-19 restrictions been good or bad news for climate change?

Profile picture of John Lang

By John Lang

@johnlangab

Information on this page correct as of:

COVID-19 enforced restrictions will dent global CO2 emissions in 2020 compared with 2019. But this decline will not, by itself, put a dent in climate change. To help explain why, we're introducing a new climate character: the name's 'Brick'.

Brick shows us why temporary CO2 emission reductions will not slow down global warming — unless, that is, another set of characters, namely governments, decide to intervene and help emission reductions become permanent.

Covid19 Climate ECIU 02