Corona measures: positive effect on climate change? Researchers with unimagined results

The hopes that the corona pandemic and the measures taken will at least have a positive effect on climate change were enormous.

Now the researchers have found out about the actual effects - and they are completely surprising.

• The corona measures resulted in fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

• The hoped-for effects on climate change are more than sobering, however.

• Researchers have now calculated the real impact.

Geneva - paralyzed industries, slumps in air traffic and reduced production: the

* resulted in severe restrictions

worldwide

.

At least

as far as

is concerned, there were high hopes for positive effects from the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Experts have now determined whether and to what extent these are confirmed - with unexpected results.

Climate change: Experts are dashing hopes for corona effects

The

has

of a breather for the environment in the course of Corona pandemic

.

The extent of climate-damaging emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) has decreased this year.

The greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere changes the

natural fluctuations

that are

, the WMO wrote in the annual greenhouse gas bulletin on Monday.

CO2 stays in the atmosphere for centuries.

In 2019 and 2020, the

, according to the report.

In 2019, the global average for the first time since the beginning of industrialization in 1750 broke the 410 ppm mark (particles per million particles).

The 400 ppm mark was not broken until 2015.

CO2 concentration: this is how high it has been in recent years

Specifically, the

last year was 410.5 ppm, after 407.9 and 405.5 ppm in the previous two years.

CO2 is created by burning coal, oil and gas, cement production and other industrial processes, as well as deforestation.

“The last time the earth experienced a similar concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago,”

said WMO General Secretary Petteri Taalas.

Researchers can draw conclusions about the condition so long ago by drilling ice into ancient air bubbles and analyzing fossils.

“At that time the temperature was two to three degrees and the sea level was 10 to 20 meters higher.

But there were not 7.7 billion people on earth. "

Limit global warming: "Perhaps more nuclear power plants should also be built"

In order

to limit

the

to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world must become

by

2050

, Taalas said.

The

in

should start in five years.

Oil, gas and coal would have to be replaced as energy sources by wind, water and solar energy.

Perhaps more nuclear power plants should also be built, said Taalas.

The reduction in emissions in 2020 is only “a tiny dent” in the upward curve.

"We have to sustainably flatten the curve," said Taalas - based on the expression that epidemiologists often use in connection with coronavirus infections.

Weather: temperatures, precipitation and more - the German average *

Corona lockdowns: Decrease in emissions - but hardly any effects on climate change

How much the emissions will decline in 2020 is still unclear, according to the WMO.

In times when several decisive countries were in corona lockdown at the same time, daily emissions are likely to have been around

before the pandemic.

Preliminary estimates assumed a

.

This would reduce the concentration in the atmosphere by values ​​between 0.08 and 0.23 ppm.

Natural variations, such as how well CO2 is absorbed by vegetation in a year, would be around 1 ppm.

The extension of the corona lockdown in Germany and numerous other countries such as Austria and Italy is unlikely to have any notable impact on climate change.

The greenhouse gas bulletin gives

an average value

for the

from more than 100 measuring stations.

Individual stations had already registered higher values ​​for 2020 than in the previous year.

The station in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, measured 411.29 ppm in September, compared to 408.54 last year.

The Cape Grim station on Tasmania in Australia measured 410.8 ppm, after 408.58 last year.

(va / dpa)