The pandemic has disrupted governments’ plans to flatline the upward trajectory of global warming.
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
The result of this could be disastrous: sea levels will rise, storms will rage, parts of the world will become much drier than before and conflicts over scarce resources are likely to intensify. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which assesses efforts to curb climate change, has also been delayed because of disruption caused by the pandemic. The outputs by scientific institutions around the world are also likely to be affected.
On March 27 — the day the lockdown kicked in — the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries, Barbara Creecy, lowered minimum air pollution standards for sulphur dioxide to reduce emissions by 58%. It 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.
On the release of the WMO’s predictions, the organisation’s secretary general, Petteri Taalas, warned that improvements in emissions during Covid-19 lockdowns are “not a substitute for sustained and coordinated climate action”.
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