Covid-19 Reduced Emissions, But Not Enough

The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a record high of 410.5 parts per million in 2019, a number that is expected to rise again this year despite a drop in emissions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a World Meteorological Organization report released yesterday. The report called this year’s projected emissions drop a “tiny blip” in the long-term picture that is not different from typical annual fluctuations. The report also found that methane levels reached a record high in 2019, and that 60% of methane emissions come from man-made sources like fossil fuel production and agriculture. “The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO₂ was 3-5 million years ago, when the temperature was 2-3°C warmer and sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now —but there weren’t 7.7 billion inhabitants,” said WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas. (Reuters, Al Jazeera, E&E $, Huffpost, Bloomberg $, The Guardian, BBC, InsideClimate News, Independent)