Carbon savings’ from Covid-19 lockdown halve within weeks
Looks like a return to work is quickly cancelling out the positive unintended consequences of environmental benefit. This article tells us:
The UK’s carbon emissions have begun to rebound following the easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures, causing the “carbon savings” triggered by the coronavirus to halve within weeks.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and transport industries climbed last month as more people returned to work, raising demand for fossil fuels from record lows in April when strict lockdown measures were in place, according to new data.
An analysis by Sia Partners, seen by the Guardian, shows that the UK’s carbon emissions fell by 36% in the first four weeks of the lockdown compared to the most recent official carbon emissions data collected in 2018.
But by June Britain’s total emissions savings had dwindled to a 16% drop as more cars returned to its roads and demand for energy began to rise.
Chloé Depigny, a senior manager at Sia Partners, said the data underlines the fragility of the UK’s short-term carbon savings during the coronavirus, and the need for ambitious fundamental changes to the economy if the government hopes to meet its long-term carbon targets.