How the pandemic is accelerating the end of fossil power generation.
COVID-19 has not only caused a temporary drop in global CO2 emissions, it has also reduced the share of power generated by burning coal – a trend that could in fact outlast the pandemic. This is the key result of a new study by a team of economists based in Potsdam and Berlin that looked at COVID-19’s impact on the energy system and demand for electricity. Their findings show that the pandemic, while putting a terrible toll on people’s lives and the economy, has also opened a window of opportunity to make this current trend of decreasing coal use irreversible: Supported by the right climate policy measures, power sector emissions could decline more rapidly than previously thought.
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Study finds global warming linked to slowing economy By AFP Published: Feb 09, 2021 07:03 PM
A man takes part in a climate change protest in Times Square in New York, the United States, on Sept. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)Increasingly erratic weather caused by global warming threatens global economic growth, scientists warned Monday with a report showing that even short-lived climate volatility can have a significant impact.
Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is causing planet-wide temperature rises that have intensified deadly droughts, heat waves, floods and super storms.
But researchers from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Columbia University and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change said impact studies often look at annual averages, rather than the effects of day-to-day temperature fluctuations.
Coal and COVID-19: How the pandemic is accelerating the end of fossil power generation
Newswise COVID-19 has not only caused a temporary drop in global CO2 emissions, it has also reduced the share of power generated by burning coal - a trend that could in fact outlast the pandemic. This is the key result of a new study by a team of economists based in Potsdam and Berlin that looked at COVID-19 s impact on the energy system and demand for electricity. Their findings show that the pandemic, while putting a terrible toll on people s lives and the economy, has also opened a window of opportunity to make this current trend of decreasing coal use irreversible: Supported by the right climate policy measures, power sector emissions could decline more rapidly than previously thought.
In a new report from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, researchers are describing how the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the end of fossil fuel power generation.