Covid puts green energy in a coma

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The Earth is getting hotter. And, with promises to slow down global warming now on hold amid the Covid-19 crisis, the world continues on a destructive path despite the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

Governments are mandated to keep global temperatures below 2°C above pre-industrial levels this century and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C., the world is on the brink of reaching temperatures the Paris agreement had hoped to avoid. The study predicts that the global temperature is likely to be at least 1°C above pre-industrial levels in each of the coming five years. There is also a 20% chance that the Earth’s temperature will exceed 1.

Quantifying carbon dioxide levels during this period will help in understanding how the Earth’s climate will react as global warming intensifies, the researchers say.The industrial and economic slowdown that accompanied lockdowns caused a significant, though temporary, drop in carbon emissions. Research published in the journalThe Covid-19 response has also upended global efforts to attend to the climate crisis.

On March 27, the day the lockdown kicked in, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecyto reduce emissions by 58%. The move was a compromise, achieved after public consultation. It took into account the financial situations of big polluters Eskom and Sasol, which were seen as unable to invest in infrastructure that would lower their emissions to standards called for by environmental organisations.

The majority of South Africa’s economic recovery plan is directed at providing support to the unemployed, grant beneficiaries and companies that have lost a portion of their income. It does little to attend to the climate crisis., warned that improvements in emissions during Covid-19 lockdowns are “not a substitute for sustained and coordinated climate action”.

 

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