For “laypersons” or “beginners”
A helpful video series for laypersons on climate science, and climate-related politics and religious debates.
By the renowned climate scientist and devoted Christian Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
Just a sample: “What’s the Bid Deal With a Few Degrees?”
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe also has a very helpful Q&A page on her website covering a wide variety of climate related topics: Science, Communication, Solutions, etc.
The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Fight Climate Change: Talk About It
2018.11 | TED Talk | Katharine Hayhoe
A comprehensive website explaining climate change science & rebutting global warming misinformation.
Initiated by Australian climate scientist and educator Dr. John Cook.
“This primer about climate science put together by the United Nations Foundation might come in handy now and then! The science of climate change can be complicated. But the facts tell a clear story. Here’s how you can explain it easily.”
Just a sample
“Our mission is to help the world reach “Drawdown”— the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change — as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.”
Climate Solution 101
This is a six-unit learning series (video and guide), very user-friendly and helpful in understanding the climate challenges and the solutions in many aspects of daily lives.
For those who want to have more scientific details and specifics
Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide |NOAA, US Government | last updated 2020.08.14
NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index: An Introduction | NOAA, US Government
Ocean-Atmosphere CO2 Exchange | NOAA, US Government
CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Our World In Data |2020.08 last update
~ Very useful graphic and charts on GHGs by country
Comparing CO2 emissions to CO2 levels |Skeptical Science
~ useful explanation to clear up some confusions and misunderstandings.
EPA Climate Indicator |Environmental Protection Agency, US Government
How Much CO2 Can The Oceans Take Up? | UC San Diego
How does the way we define methane emissions impact the perception of its effects on global warming?
2020.05.04 | Skeptical Science | Justine Wickman
- 11-15% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are a result of raising livestock (Yusuf et al. 2012; Gerber 2013). The discussion surrounding the value of low-meat diets, such as vegan and vegetarian diets, in reducing global warming through reduced GHG emissions is ongoing. Livestock produce methane and CO2 emissions, which are currently defined by their 100-year or 20-year Global Warming Potential (GWP) where all gases are treated as equivalent to CO2 and the way it acts in the atmosphere.
Climate Change: Graphic | Climate Central
Sea Level Rise | Smithsonian Institute
~ Comprehensive overview
Busting Myths About Climate Change in Canada | Citizens For Public Justice
The most important climate numbers you need to know (Canada)
2019.06.25 | Pembina Institute | Bora Plumptre
~ Before weighing in on policy, do you know your basic Canadian climate math?
Climate Change and Refugee Crisis
Articles and Research on Climate Refugee Crisis due to climate change:
- Accessing the Impact of Climate Change on Migration and Conflict, SDCC Working Paper, World Bank 2010
- Climate Challenge and Values of Lands, Review of Environment, Energy and Economics – Re3, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Milan, Italy.
- Climate Change and Forced Migration – Canada’s Role, Library of Parliament, 2010.
- Climate Change and Migration Dynamics, Migration Policy Institute, 2011
- Migration and Climate Change, International Organization for Migration, 2008.
- “Quantifying the Influence of Climate in Human Conflict”, Science, v.341, 2013.
- “Climate Change Hastened Syria’s Civil War”, Scientific America, March 2015.
Researchers Link Syrian Civil War to a Drought Made Worse by Climate Change
2015.03.03 | The New York Times
Study: War, climate displaced tens of millions in 2020
2021.05.20 | phys.org
Global Report on Internal Displacement 2021
2021.05 | Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (iDMC)
- In 2020, conflict and disasters triggered 40.5 million new internal displacements across 149 countries and territories.
- ~30 million by disasters (in blue)
- ~10 million by conflicts (in orange).
- So 3x as many people were displaced by climate/weather/geological disasters than violence and war
- It begins with the idea that the adverse impacts of a warming climate are not felt equitably among people.
- Climate change, an inherently social issue, can upset anyone’s daily life in countless ways. But not all climate impacts are created equal, or distributed equally. From extreme weather to rising sea levels, the effects of climate change often have disproportionate effects on historically marginalized or underserved communities.
- “Climate justice” is a term, and more than that a movement, that acknowledges climate change can have differing social, economic, public health, and other adverse impacts on underprivileged populations. Advocates for climate justice are striving to have these inequities addressed head-on through long-term mitigation and adaptation strategies.
- The following are key factors to consider in thinking about climate justice: …
**Principles of Climate Justice
Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice
Mapping Environmental Injustice | Rusty Pritchard
2020 | Q Talk
Other “interesting” dimensions
Internet Use and Climate Impacts
Factcheck: What is the carbon footprint of streaming video on Netflix?
2020.02.25 | CarbonBrief | George Kamiya (IEA)
(The IEA version: )
- Summary: The use of streaming video is growing exponentially around the world. These services are associated with energy use and carbon emissions from devices, network infrastructure and data centres. Yet, contrary to a slew of recent misleading media coverage, the climate impacts of streaming video remain relatively modest, particularly compared to other activities and sectors.
Ignore the absurd claim that streaming TV is terrible for the climate
2020.01.09 | Mashable | Mark Kaufman
The Carbon Cost of an Email
2018.02. | The Carbon Literacy Project | Emma Charlotte Richards
Emissions possible: Streaming music swells carbon footprints
2020.02.28 | Ajazeera | Sanjana Varghese
Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think
2020.03.05 | BBC – Smart Guide to Climate Change | Sarah Griffiths
Food and Climate Change
Smart Guide to Climate Change – BBC Future
How Climate Change Could Make Our Food Less Nutritious
2019.04 | TED Talk | Kristie Ebi
- Rising carbon levels in the atmosphere can make plants grow faster, but there’s another hidden consequence: they rob plants of the nutrients and vitamins we need to survive. In a talk about global food security, epidemiologist Kristie Ebi explores the potentially massive health consequences of this growing nutrition crisis — and explores the steps we can take to ensure all people have access to safe, healthy food.
Climate Change Food Calculator: What’s your diet’s carbon footprint?
2019.08.08 | BBC News | Nassos Stylianou, Clara Guibourg and Helen Briggs
You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local
2020.01.24 | Our World in Data – Oxford University
The food to avoid if you care about climate change
2020.05.14 | VOX | Laura Bult
(The feature video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/3lrJYTsKdUM)
Avoiding high-emissions foods can have a huge climate impact.
11 Foods That Are Already Being Impacted by the Climate Crisis
2021.04.19 | Rolling Stone
Google Scholar Search – CO2 nutrition food crops
Climate and Mind
~ Exploring the Relationship Between Climate Disruption, Human Behavior & Human Experience
What is Climate Grief? | Climate Mind
Scientists share their grief, anger, and hope over climate change (Video)
2020.03.20 | Yale Climate Connection
- One scientist says it’s important to let people process emotions sparked by frightening information. “This Is Not Cool” video shows how several experienced climate scientists are handling the emotional and personal feelings that many feel in grasping the potential adverse effects of runaway climate change. In the current global context posed by the coronavirus pandemic, there are striking similarities between the COVID-19 disease and risks posed by climate change.
Speaking of Psychology: Understanding climate change
2019 | American Psychological Association
~ On how people understand the risks of climate change and how they adapt (Podcast + transcript)
How To Turn Climate Anxiety Into Action
2019.12 | TED Talk | Renée Lertzman
Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and Climate Change
Q&A: A Harvard Expert on Environment and Health Discusses Possible Ties Between COVID and Climate
2020.03.12 | InsideClimate News |
- Air pollution makes people more vulnerable to respiratory infections; climate change brings people in closer contact with animals that can spread disease.
Interview with the same expert:
Why The Solutions To Coronavirus And Climate Change Are The Same – An Interview
2020.04.14 | HuffPost US | Amanda Schupak
~ Protecting the environment will make us healthier, so we can withstand the next pandemic — or prevent it.
- …the drop in carbon emissions seen due to the coronavirus pandemic counter-measures will not be a long-term solution to climate change and could “come back to bite us harder.”
- In late February, climate researchers measured a decrease of about 25 per cent in China’s CO2 emissions after the nation locked down entire cities, emptied highways, grounded airplanes, shut factories and confined millions to their homes in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.
- “In terms of lockdowns, you really can’t have [them] in any given society in the absence of… an immediate emergency. The climate situation is a longer term emergency,” Bill McKibben, founder of climate advocacy group 350.org, told The Current’s Matt Galloway.
COVID-19 and climate change: A healthy dose of reality
2020.03.16 | GreenBiz | Joel Makower
How COVID-19 Is like Climate Change
2020.03.17 | Scientific American |
- Both are existential challenges—and a president who belittles and neglects science has made them both tougher to address
Destruction of habitat and loss of biodiversity are creating the perfect conditions for diseases like COVID-19 to emerge
2020.03.17 | Ensia | John Vidal
- As habitat and biodiversity loss increase globally, the novel coronavirus outbreak may be just the beginning of mass pandemics
Same report published elsewhere:
‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?
2020.03.18 | The Guardian | John Vidal
- My daughter—full grown and accomplished, but still my daughter—asked me the other day, “Do you think we’re going to go on having crises like this my whole life?” Probably not quite like the coronavirus (pandemics are fairly unique among disasters, in that they attack the whole world at the same time), but I’ve long feared that the result of heating the Earth will be an ongoing, accelerating series of disasters, eventually overwhelming our ability to cope.
- On this week’s episode of Political Climate, we discuss the behavioral science behind our response to these global threats. (Podcast radio show)
Coronavirus, climate change, and the environment
2020.03.20 | Environmental Health News
- A conversation on COVID-19 with the director of Harvard University’s Center of Climate, Health and the Global Environment.
Video: Scientists share their grief, anger, and hope over climate change
2020.03.20 | Yale Climate Connection
- One scientist says it’s important to let people process emotions sparked by frightening information.
- This month’s original YCC “This Is Not Cool” video shows how several experienced climate scientists are handling the emotional and personal feelings that many feel in grasping the potential adverse effects of runaway climate change. In the current global context posed by the coronavirus pandemic, there are striking similarities between the COVID-19 disease and risks posed by climate change.
How the Virus Has Hit the Climate Movement: Bill McKibben
2020.03.22 | The Tyee.ca | Geoff Dembicki
Coronavirus Holds Key Lessons on How to Fight Climate Change
2020.03.23 | YaleEnvironment360 | Beth Gardiner
- When the COVID-19 pandemic is past, societies may adopt some important measures that would lower emissions, from more teleconferencing to shortening global supply chains. But the most lasting lesson may be what the coronavirus teaches us about the urgency of taking swift action.
Coronavirus pandemic leading to huge drop in air pollution
2020.03.23 | The Guardian |
- ‘Largest scale experiment ever’ shows what is possible as satellite images reveal marked fall in global nitrogen dioxide levels
2020.03.19 | TechNews
- 全球主要國家為防疫採取社會隔離措施，人類活動減少讓經濟很可能陷入衰退，但卻讓地球得到意外喘息機會。中國污染急遽下降，疫情嚴峻程度僅次於中國的義大利許多城市也見到久違的寧靜與乾淨，NASA 科學家根據衛星數據顯示，這是從未見過的景象。
2020/3/20 | 立場新聞
Coronavirus: ‘Nature is sending us a message’, says UN environment chief
2020.03.25 | The Guardians | Damian Carrington
- Destruction of wildlife and the climate crisis is hurting humanity, with Covid-19 a ‘clear warning shot’, say experts
- Nature is sending us a message with the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis, according to the UN’s environment chief, Inger Andersen.
Covid-19 is nature’s wake-up call to complacent civilisation
2020.03.25 | The Guardian | George Monbiot
Coronavirus Is a Stress Test for Future Climate Shocks
2020.03.25 | Bloomberg News | Emily Chasan
- Risk modelers are looking at the global response to Covid-19 as a test case for how climate shocks could roil markets and push governments to respond to existential threats.
- The 2° Investing Initiative, a European think tank that works with large financial firms and regulators to plan for climate risks, tried its hand at mapping out Coronavirus scenarios this week. “There are some similarities to climate risk in terms of the speed and scale with which the crisis is materializing and because this is also an exogenous risk that’s not part of the normal business cycle,” said Jakob Thomä, a managing director in Berlin.
What does climate change have to do with the coronavirus? (The Pandemic’s Effects on Climate Change | Special Episode)
2020.03.25 | Global Weirding | Katherine Hayhoe
- Climate change is not increasing the geographic range of COVID-19. And the novel virus did not come from the permafrost or the soil, like other infectious diseases that climate change is spreading.
- So where did it come from? How is it spreading? And what’s the connection to climate change?
Here’s what the coronavirus pandemic can teach us about tackling climate change
2020.03.26 | The Conversation | Natasha Chassagne
- Every aspect of our lives has been affected by the coronavirus. The global economy has slowed, people have retreated to their homes and thousands have died or become seriously ill.
- At this frightening stage of the crisis, it’s difficult to focus on anything else. But as the International Energy Agency has said, the effects of coronavirus are likely to be temporary but the other global emergency – climate change – is not.
- Stopping the spread of coronavirus is paramount, but climate action must also continue. And we can draw many lessons and opportunities from the current health crisis when tackling planetary warming.
What the Coronavirus Curve Teaches Us About Climate Change
2020.03.26 | POLITICO | HOWARD KUNREUTHER and PAUL SLOVIC
- Humans don’t easily grasp the concept of exponential growth, but it’s exactly why coronavirus has gotten so hard to manage—and why climate change could too.
Pandemic Response should Mobilize Around Low-Carbon Solutions
2020.03.26 | Policy Opinions | Mitchell Beer
- Canada has an opportunity to meet urgent needs, while taking a significant step towards the future sustainable economy it already wants to build.
- While the coronavirus pandemic and climate change are inherently different issues, they share two important characteristics: both are global crises that threaten the lives of millions of people.
- In this rapidly emerging new reality, lessons are being learned. Coronavirus, constituting an emergency unprecedented in modern times, has much to teach us about how civilization should deal with global crises. And in the view of Brazilian economist and former chief financial officer of the World Bank Dr Joaquim Vieira Ferreira Levy, the immediate danger of coronavirus has a great deal in common with the threat of climate change.
- “One: it’s global. Two: it affects different people in different ways. Three: it shows the importance of government,” Levy says.
Global Supply Agreement Could Address Collapsing Oil Markets and Climate Concerns
2020.03.31 | Policy Opinions | Vance Culbert, Philippe Le Billon
- Canada is in a unique position to take on a leadership role in calling for a global supply-side agreement for fossil fuels, linked with emissions targets.
Air pollution eases in 4 Canadian cities as pandemic measures keep people home
2020.04.01 | CBC News | David Thurton
- Public health measures shutting down workplaces and schools to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a noticeable reduction in air pollution in multiple Canadian cities known for their traffic congestion, according to satellite images shared with CBC News.
- Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver have seen drops in vehicle traffic over the last few days as physical distancing measures introduced to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus have kept Canadians closer to home.
- Images from Descartes Labs of the major cities and surrounding areas show their average levels of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2)— a pollutant created by the burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline — has plummeted compared to a year ago.
Our approach to covid-19 can also help tackle climate change
2020.04.01 | New Scientist | Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac
- We can’t lose sight of the climate emergency when dealing with the covid-19 pandemic
Will the coronavirus kill the oil industry and help save the climate?
2020.04.01 | The Guardian | Damian Carrington, Jillian Ambrose and Matthew Taylor
** While we fixate on coronavirus, Earth is hurtling towards a catastrophe worse than the dinosaur extinction
2020.04.02 | The Conversation | Andrew Glikson Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University
- At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out.
- In the past, these events were triggered by a huge volcanic eruption or asteroid impact. Now, Earth is heading for another mass extinction – and human activity is to blame. …
- My research suggests the current growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions is faster than those which triggered two previous mass extinctions, including the event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
- The world’s gaze may be focused on COVID-19 right now. But the risks to nature from human-made global warming – and the imperative to act – remain clear. …
- Before industrial times began at the end of the 18th century, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere sat at around 300 parts per million. This means that for every one million molecules of gas in the atmosphere, 300 were carbon dioxide.
- In February this year, atmospheric carbon dioxide reached 414.1 parts per million. Total greenhouse gas level – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide combined – reached almost 500 parts per million of carbon dioxide-equivalent.
- Carbon dioxide is now pouring into the atmosphere at a rate of two to three parts per million each year.
- Using carbon records stored in fossils and organic matter, I have determined that current carbon emissions constitute an extreme event in the recorded history of Earth.
Webinar: The geopolitics of COVID-19 and climate change
2020.04.03 | Stockholm Environment Institute
- The geopolitics of COVID-19 and climate change – the role of disruptors in the transformation to sustainability
- In times of crisis, social structures and institutions are put to the test and normal practices called into question. Disruptive events can lead to the emergence of new cultural expressions, daily routines, power relations and resource distribution. Could the COVID-19 pandemic be the catalyst for a societal transformation toward sustainability, as envisioned by the UN and the European Union? Or will efforts to restore business as usual drive a new surge of carbon emissions, fear and international distrust?
- “The Corona crisis is a 100-meter race and the climate crisis is a marathon. We have to run both at the same time” – Victor Galaz, Stockholm Resilience Centre.
What the Coronavirus Can Teach Us About the Climate Emergency
2020.04.04 | The Intercept | Charles Komanoff, Christopher Ketcham
Could COVID-caused economic cratering trim 1 ppm from atmospheric CO2? [Linked article from above]
2020.03.14 | Carbon Tax Center | Charles Komanoff
- Calculations by the Carbon Tax Center suggest that the worldwide economic contraction from steps being taken to slow the spread of deadly COVID-19 could halve this year’s rise in the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration.
Sorry to disappoint climate deniers, but coronavirus makes the low-carbon transition more urgent
2020.04.05 | The Conversation | John Hewson
Behind the Headline: Climate Change and Pandemics (Facebook webcast)
2020.04.07 | Trinity College Dublin | Katherine Hayhao and others
- The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that acting fast and decisively is key to managing this public health crisis. If we imagine the severity of the climate emergency like the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, would we act now?
- As the interconnectedness of global societies becomes strikingly clear, we assess how the current pandemic is changing perspectives on how we live, how we interact – not only with each other – but with our greatest asset, Mother Nature.
COVID lockdown leads to cleaner air. Could it lower greenhouse gasses too?
2020.04.07 | Behind the Number – Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives | Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood
- The GHG emissions data are not reported as quickly as air pollution data so we can’t say for certain yet, but on this front we are likely to be disappointed for two reasons.
- First, the COVID-19 lockdown thus far excludes many of the most emissions intensive sectors of the economy. Agriculture, heavy industry, electricity generation and oil and gas extraction, which collectively account for 57% of Canada’s emissions, are mostly continuing to operate during the pandemic (pending further shutdowns). Pollution from those industries doesn’t always choke up city streets but it still goes into the atmosphere.
- Second, declining emissions in other sectors of the economy may not be as large as they seem. For example, although many offices are closed, home energy use, including wood fires and natural gas heating, will ramp up as people self-quarantine in the day. In the transportation sector, despite a drop in urban traffic, delivery services are picking up and trucking has yet to be disrupted.
- In other words, the huge drop in economic activity during this period, which may be accompanied by a large drop in urban air pollution, is unlikely to produce a comparable drop in greenhouse gas emissions.
Analysis: Coronavirus set to cause largest ever annual fall in CO2 emissions
2020.04.09 | Carbon Brief | Simon Evans
With climate and coronavirus, ‘the broad shape of the story is the same’
2020.04.10 | Yale Climate Connections | Peter Sinclair
- Political denial faces a reckoning with the reality of exponential growth.
The Guardian view on the climate and coronavirus: global warnings
2002.04.12 | The Guardian | Editorial
- Steep falls in emissions have been the pandemic’s immediate effect. But what’s needed is a green recovery
How Is the Coronavirus Pandemic Affecting Climate Change?
2020.04.21 | WIRED | Matt Simon
- It is an invisible, deadly menace. It’s causing almost unfathomable economic destruction. We knew it was coming, but were caught woefully unprepared. It tricked nations into blaming one another—the US being the primary antagonist—instead of working together to stop it.
- It is the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and it is climate change. The two are intimately linked: As you’d expect, emissions have fallen as people drive less and industries grind to a halt. But dig deeper into how the pandemic is influencing the climate, and surprising and often counterintuitive dynamics begin to emerge. This is your guide to those complexities. …
- “This drop of emissions of six per cent, that’s unfortunately (only) short-term good news”, said Professor Petteri Taalas, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General, in reference to a 5.5 to 5.7 per cent fall in levels of carbon dioxide due to the pandemic, that have been flagged by leading climate experts, including the Center for International Climate Research.
- Once the global economy begins to recover from the new coronavirus, WMO expects emissions to return to normal.
- “There might even be a boost in emissions because some of the industries have been stopped”, the WMO head cautioned.
Europe’s Cities Are Making Less Room for Cars After Coronavirus
2020.04.22 | CityLab | Feargus O’Sullivan
- Hard-hit Milan may be leading the way in reimagining how transit and commuting patterns could change as cities emerge from coronavirus shutdowns.
Transmission and Transitions: How Climate Change is Impacting Human and Planetary Health [Youtube video]
2020.04.22 | Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies – University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Preventing the Next Pandemic: Urgency for Planetary Health Approach
- Even with the global economy at a near-standstill, the best analysis suggests that the world is still on track to release 95 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in a typical year, continuing to heat up the planet and driving climate change even as we’re stuck at home.
- A 5.5-percent drop in carbon dioxide emissions would still be the largest yearly change on record, beating out the financial crisis of 2008 and World War II. But it’s worth wondering: Where do all of those emissions come from? And if stopping most travel and transport isn’t enough to slow down climate change, what will be? …
Webinar: COVID-19: What does this mean for the fight against climate change?
2020.04.29 | Digital Roadmaps to COP26 – Climate Actions
IEA: Coronavirus impact on CO2 emissions six times larger than 2008 financial crisis
2020.04.30 | Carbon Brief | Josh Gabbatiss (with interesting historical chart for comparison)
- Source quoted in report:
- Global Energy Review 2020: The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on global energy demand and CO2 emissions 2020.04 | IEA (International Energy Agency |
- The International Energy Agency has forecast the CO2 impact of the crisis, suggesting emissions could fall by 8% this year, some 2,600Mt CO2.
- Pandemic shows how humans appear unable to respond to a threat until they are attacked
**Canada’s modest drop in air pollution highlights magnitude of decarbonization challenge
2020.05.06 | Behind the Number – Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives | Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood
Climate change and coronavirus: Five charts about the biggest carbon crash
2020.05.06 | BBC | Matt McGrath
- We’re living through the biggest carbon crash ever recorded.
- No war, no recession, no previous pandemic has had such a dramatic impact on emissions of CO2 over the past century as Covid-19 has in a few short months.
- Multiple sources indicate we are now living through an unrivalled drop in carbon output.
- But even though we will see a massive fall this year, the concentrations of CO2 that are in the atmosphere and warming our planet won’t stabilise until the world reaches net-zero.
- COVID-19 presents an unprecedented threat — and a unique opportunity to build a cleaner economy
- Government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic have drastically altered patterns of energy demand around the world. Many international borders were closed and populations were confined to their homes, which reduced transport and changed consumption patterns. Here we compile government policies and activity data to estimate the decrease in CO2 emissions during forced confinements. Daily global CO2 emissions decreased by –17% (–11 to –25% for ±1σ) by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels, just under half from changes in surface transport. At their peak, emissions in individual countries decreased by –26% on average. The impact on 2020 annual emissions depends on the duration of the confinement, with a low estimate of –4% (–2 to –7%) if prepandemic conditions return by mid-June, and a high estimate of –7% (–3 to –13%) if some restrictions remain worldwide until the end of 2020. Government actions and economic incentives postcrisis will likely influence the global CO2 emissions path for decades.
封城停擺 全球碳排放減 17% 專家警告下跌屬暫時促提防反彈
2020.05.20 | 立場新聞
[COP26] Covid-19: What does it mean for COP26?
2021.04 | Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit
COVID-19, Climate Change and Reaching Across the Aisle [Webinar]
2021.01.28 | Rice University – Baker Institute for Public Policy
- In 2020, the U.S. saw intense forest fires and a record number of hurricanes and other extreme weather events as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. All have highlighted the fracture lines that can sometimes exist between science experts and science skeptics. 2020 demonstrated how the lack of collaboration and trust in both climate and public health science has led to worse societal outcomes — indicating that more effective science communication and communicators are needed. In this event, Katharine Hayhoe, co-director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University, discussed her work as an atmospheric scientist and a renowned science communicator who aims to bridge cultural and political divides with regard to climate science.