Environment
According to the International Energy Agency, during lockdowns, there was a decline in demand for electricity similar to the situation on a “prolonged Sunday”. According to environmental reports, global emissions during the pandemic dropped by approximately 8 percent for 2020. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about climate-heating gases which have skyrocketed to record levels in spite of the electricity demand slump, reported the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation.
“It’s difficult to know how people will respond to the climate emergency after the pandemic. It’s likely there will be a lingering fear about using public transport that will lead to more people using cars,” says Bob Ward from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change in London. “People working from home might not be on a green tariff, where as they would have been at work, and this all adds up.”
