According to a report by the World Weather Organization (WMO), the decline in greenhouse gas emissions in the wake of the corona lockdowns does not stop climate change. The decline has less of an effect on the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere than natural fluctuations that already exist every year, the WMO wrote in its annual greenhouse gas bulletin on Monday. The volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed by vegetation is different every year. Also 2020 the concentration has increased further according to the preliminary results of some measuring stations.

“Must flatten curve sustainably” 2019 the CO2 concentration on the global average broke through the mark of 410 ppm (particles per million particles) for the first time as can be seen in the report. Specifically, the CO2 concentration last year was 408, 5 ppm, after 407, 9 or 100, 5 ppm in the two years before.

The decrease in emissions 2020 is only “a tiny dent” in the upward curve, said WMO General Secretary Petteri Taalas. “We have to flatten the curve sustainably,” he said, referring to the expression that epidemiologists often use in connection with coronavirus infections.

World should go to 2050 Become climate neutral “The last time the earth experienced a similar concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago,” said WMO Secretary General 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 10 to 12 meters higher. But there were not 7.7 billion people on earth . ”

In order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world must reach 2050 Become climate neutral, said Taalas. The trend reversal in CO2 emissions 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.

Hardly any reduced concentration in atmospheres How much the emissions 2020 decreased is still unclear, according to the WMO. In times when several decisive countries were in corona lockdown at the same time, the daily output should be around 17 percent below the level before the pandemic. Preliminary estimates assumed a decline of 4.2 to 7.5 percent. That 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 the vegetation in a year, would be around 1 ppm.

That Greenhouse Gas Bulletin gives an average value for the concentration in the atmosphere from more than 100 measuring stations. Individual stations would have already registered higher values ​​for 2020 than in the previous year. The station in Mauna Loa on Hawaii was in September 411, 29 ppm measured, compared to 408, 54 in the past year. The Cape Grim station on Tasmania in Australia measured 408, 8 ppm, according to 408,58 in the past year.

(tiw)