Did Covid-19 Drastically Impact Climate Change?

One of the unexpected silver linings of the Covid-19 pandemic was its supposedly positive impact on climate change. As consumerism, manufacturing, and traveling halted to a stop, so did the carbon emissions that these everyday activities produced. But did the global lockdowns really turn the tide, or have we just been given a breather?

The Math of It All

Did the empty roads help the planet cool down?

Several studies have confirmed that low human activity during 2020 did indeed lead to lesser pollutants being released in the air. This makes logical sense, as industries were shuttered, airplanes grounded, and people were simply moving less.

Interestingly however the lockdown did lead to a small rise in temperature, causing a global rise of around 0.03 degrees on average. This is because low manufacturing meant not only lesser pollutants, but also lesser aerosols to reflect the sun’s light away from the earth’s surface and thus keep the ground cooler.

Fortunately for the planet, this effect was only temporary. And unfortunately for us, the positives brought by the lockdowns were also only temporary.

Firstly, the lockdowns did not have that drastic an effect on global climate as people had hoped. It is important to remember that climate is the overarching, long-duration patterns of the earth’s conditions. An year is really not that much.

It is not enough for the millions of acres of trees cut to suddenly sprout back to life again, it is not enough for the rivers to clean themselves, and it is not enough for the earth to stop heating up. Simply put, human activity has messed up the earth’s climate, but lack of human activity is not the solution for it.

Though all of us got to enjoy slightly better air and cooler temperatures, the world’s production and consumption is picking up pace. All these positives could soon disappear, or worse, go into negative as countries and businesses pick up pace and the world goes out again.

The Long Game

The lockdowns have provided scientists with an interesting experiment and valuable data, but they have also emphasized that the lockdown was a (hopefully) one-time and unique experience. No business or people would voluntarily sit back home to let the planet cool off.

It has to be emphasized that not only did the lockdowns not have a big impact on climate change, but they are also not a viable long-term solution to climate change. And a long-term solution is what is required. Then there is also the fact that like climate change, the lockdowns also affected the poor and vulnerable most disproportionately.

The riches of billionaires touched new heights while millions lost their jobs. Covid-19 has shown a chasm of inequality and skewed wealth distribution that also reiterated the true solution for climate change – controlling those who actually contribute the most to climate change.

Who should be held accountable for climate change – and how much?

Who Takes the Charge?

During the drafting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the notion of common but differentiated responsibilities was put forward.

The idea was that climate change had been caused majorly due to the now-developed countries of the west, who thus had the main responsibility of curbing emissions, while the formerly colonized nations looked to attaining basic standards of dignified living.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that the developing nations could go around burning whatever they got their hands on. But the historical context that had led humans to that point was taken into consideration. As the world has become more globalized and developed, we perhaps need a new mode of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Just 20 of the world’s corporations are responsible for about 1/3rd of the world’s global emissions. Most of them are coal and oil-based western corporates. Yet when it comes to fighting climate change, most actions are targeted towards users – consume less straws, don’t use plastics, delete your emails.

Of course, individual level action is required to keep resource exploitation in check.

But to demonize people’s basic enjoyment like streaming, when oil corporations refuse to disinvest and put their money into renewable energy like solar power, or when corporations cut down swathes of forests not to meet consumer demands, but to make sure that the top stakeholders pocket more money than they did in the last year, is just ridiculous.

It puts the pressure on individuals to make their lives more and more restrictive and joyless, just so that the rich can keep using their oil money to fund more houses and yachts.

This is why considering the impact of the lockdowns on climate change should not be anything more than a data study for scientists. The real solution does not lie in locking down people, which will only hurt the poor the most.

The real solution lies in holding corporations and their owners accountable through legislations, consumer actions, and global cooperative action.

It’s never too late to save the planet

Forward Thinking

Some have already put down their gauntlets, stating that it is ‘too late’ to stop climate change. We agree, things are not that simple. While it is true that global warming will continue for a while even if humans stop their emissions, it does not mean that humans cannot combat the worst impact of climate change.

It all depends on what our actions will be in the upcoming years. The Covid-19 lockdowns gave us a glimpse of what we can achieve if we work together for the sake of the better good, and there is no reason why this cooperation cannot work for climate change as well.