Greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have continued to rise this year, despite the huge decline in movement as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The UN confirmed the news on Monday, with the World Meteorological Organisation explaining that while CO2 emissions fell by approximately 17% at the height of the pandemic, the overall annual impact was minor.
“The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph,” World Meteorological Organisation chief Petteri Taalas said, according to the SBS.
To put it simply, COVID-19 has had “no measurable impact” on our climate change efforts.
#COVID19 has had no measurable impact on CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere (cumulative past and current emissions), per WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin
But the lockdown provides a platform to grow back better and take #ClimateActionhttps://t.co/sYiJnrkYo5 pic.twitter.com/lCstO3xK2A— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) November 23, 2020
To make matters worse, once the CO2 is in the atmosphere, it stays there for a *really* long time. We’re talking centuries, or longer.
“Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and in the ocean for even longer,” Taalas explained.
“The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago.”
Taalas also praised President-elect Joe Biden’s immediate commitment to climate change efforts, and his pledge to the Paris climate accord, saying that he hopes “”might have the domino effect and motivate also some other countries”.
*cough* Australia. *cough*
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues to ignore the ever-present threat of climate change, despite an overwhelming majority of Aussies supporting a net zero by 2050 target..
According to a recent Ipsos poll, a whopping 70% of Aussies want the Morrison government to commit to net zero by 2050.
But despite claiming that we’re on track to achieving our goals (which are not currently net zero by 2050), Morrison refuses to commit to the deadline we all want.
“We’ve got great form on achieving our goals, what we’ve set we’ve met, and we’ve exceeded it,” Morrison said in an overnight speech at the G20 summit.
“This includes for the future unlocking promising low emissions technologies, technologies like hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, green steel and aluminium”
