What COVID-19 Taught Us In Our Fight Against Climate Change
By Neeshad Shafi, +SocialGood Connector.
Rarely have we come across a crisis in our lifetime like the one we are witnessing today. The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 that originated in Wuhan, China soon spread across the world and turned into a global pandemic, bringing the engines of the world to a screeching halt. As of today, the number of cases has risen to 37.2 million and fatalities to nearly 1.07 million.
Countries are scrambling to allocate their resources and are taking drastic measures to address this unimaginable health crisis. Hospitals are being built overnight, and legislation is being passed at lightning speed to contain the health crisis. States are bailing out companies, and negotiating stimulus packages to prevent market collapse and slowing an unemployment fiasco. This dramatic turn of events has far-reaching economic, social, and cultural impacts. Unfortunately, we have not seen the full extent of this crisis; as time unfolds, we will be able to grasp the impact it has on our lives and economies.
Countries have imposed severe lockdown measures restricting the flow of nearly 3.5 billion people, and controlling large gatherings to avoid community transmission. Some countries have been in lockdown for over weeks and will be extended to months given the severity of the situation as more countries experience a second wave of the COVID crisis. Going back to normal is unlikely until we find a miraculous vaccine, and even if we do, it takes months to make it available for community immunization. All forms of transportation have come to a grinding halt. Road, air, and sea transportation is limited to delivering essential goods and services. Industries, schools, and commercial enterprises have shut their doors until things get back to normal. Our social lives have been disrupted. Haunting images of the empty streets of New York, Paris, and other busy cosmopolitan cities evoke mixed feelings. We seemages circulated on the internet showing how the pandemic is affecting refugees, daily wage workers, and other vulnerable groups.
Amidst all this unimaginable scale of destruction and loss of lives, one good thing that is happening across the world is the reduced pressure on the natural environment. A thick fog of pollution that usually blocks the blue skies is vanishing. Pollution across major cities and industrial hotspots has decreased because of a severe reduction in road transport and closure of industrial activities. Satellite images show (Fig 1) that nitrogen dioxide levels (one of the harmful pollutants) have declined in Hubei province in China and Mumbai (India) as well as northern Italy.
The levels of pollution in other major cities have also seen a dramatic decline. For instance, New York’s air pollution has decreased by nearly 50% and similar scenarios have been reported in other major cities too. This dramatic decline is a result of reduced road andair transportation, electricity demand, and industrial activity, though, it is difficult to say which contributed most. First, let us look at fuel consumption in road transportation. Gasoline demand has declined by 18% and is expected to fall by 33% by the end of this month. Similarly, diesel demand will decline by nearly 20%. Second, the demand reduction in jet fuel for passenger and commercial flights is even more starker. By the end of this month, there will be nearly 60% in demand reduction (all values in year on year basis).
To provide further context, in 2019, nearly 69 million flights were tracked, with an average of 188,901 flights per day. Compare this toApril 12, 2020, when the number of flights tracked was only 46, 294. Not only has air pollution declined across cities, but so haveCO2 emissions, one of the most potent greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. China, which is one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world, noticed a 25% reduction between January and the end of March, which is equivalent to 200 million tons of CO2. Some analysis suggests that nearly 1.6 billion tons of CO2 will be reduced by the end of this year. Again, this number is speculative, and based on the nature of lockdown and how quickly countries will rebound to resume their economic activities.
In any case, this annual drop in emissions is unprecedented when compared to any other major events in the last century, including World Wars or economic recessions. However, even this steep fall in emissions, which is unusual in “normal” years, is insufficient when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to a level that can limit the global temperature to 1.5°C. In order to reach this target, the world must reduce 6% of global emissions (which is equivalent to 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2) annually by 2030. In addition to the short-term decrease in air pollution and climate change-causing greenhouse gases, we are also seeing heartwarming images of wildlife returning to cities across the world. The now quieter and nearly human-free cities welcomed wildlife to visit urban jungles. Perhaps out of curiosity? We’ve seen images circulate of wild deer strolling in the streets of Sri Lanka; a coyote spotted near the famous San Francisco bridge; and across cities, people spotting different birds and recording chirping sounds and many other feel-good images. Of course, one has to be mindful that there are thousands of fake images circulating on the internet. Also, one other point to consider is that with our busy lifestyles, we ignored the wildlife that is living among us and as our lives have slowed down, we started to notice them in our backyards. We started to pay more attention to what kind of birds are part of our urban jungle and what kind of melodies they sing.
COVID-19 is a wake-up call for everyone in the world. This crisis has exposed human vulnerabilities and fragilities. In this hyper-globalized world, risks are imminent, and we are all vulnerable to shocks. Even the mightiest nations are exposed. The crisis has jolted our beliefs and norms that we have taken for granted. To avoid another catastrophe of this scale, we have to mend our ways. We cannot go back to “normal” life or pre-COVID life. This momentary reduction in pollution and emission is just a blip in a long upward trend of environmental disasters such as wildfires, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity and soil fertility. If this continues or escalates in the name of growth and wealth accumulation, we are going to expect another major crisis of this magnitude. We need to rethink the way we run our societies, how we can make our social infrastructure — including education and healthcare — more adaptive and resilient, and build better safety nets for vulnerable communities. And more importantly, we must rethink the way we consume our food and water, utilize energy and fuel, and build cities where we coexist with our natural world.
This crisis provided us with an opportunity to rethink and develop alternative pathways, reimagine and reorient our lives to build a truly sustainable, climate-friendly and compassionate world.
About the author, Neeshad Shafi
He is the co-founder of the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar, a first, registered, independent, youth-led grassroots non-profit association in the State of Qatar. His work in the Middle East region has supported the private sector, NGOs, governments and multinational agencies in taking evidence-based decisions and delivering impact on the ground.
He is also a +SocialGood connector.
