A Nature Climate Change study published last month showed that human-caused CO2 emissions had fallen by 17% during the height of the world’s lockdowns in early April. The benefits of this shocked everyone with cleaner air, fish returning to city rivers and a drastic decrease in pollution.
But what we want to know is if the levels of carbon emissions have returned to normal or if this decrease in pollution has remained as we have slowly returned back to ‘normal life’.
The latest statistics show that the emissions are likely to go back to pre-Covid levels and there is even concern that annual emissions of greenhouse gases could surge even higher than normal after the pandemic.
Right now, the carbon emissions are still slightly lower than 2019 levels but only by 5%. This means the decrease is not enough to make a significant contribution to climate change or to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The sharp decrease and then gradual rise in carbon emissions are all related to road traffic. Deserted motorways and roads were normal in lockdown as people were restricted to their homes, except for essential trips.
Therefore, while this is disappointing news that the carbon emissions haven’t remained at lower levels, we now completely understand where the change in infrastructure and investment needs to be.
Combustion engine vehicles contribute hugely to climate change as these facts show and the switch to electric is looking more and more likely to be the answer to meeting our carbon targets. We are lucky in the UK and especially in Scotland as huge investment has gone into EV infrastructure and this investment seems to be continuing.
Another positive is that more people have become aware of the huge positive changes that can happen if every person does their bit to help. Thus, is it expected that EV sales will steeply increase in the coming years as the public’s perspective and knowledge of EV changes and as EV car companies provide many different models of car to suit every lifestyle and budget.
The government has also been very vocal about it’s plans to rebuild the economy using rescue packages which promote low carbon infrastructures around the country such as EV charging points and renovating buildings to make them more energy efficient. While this seems amazing, it is interesting to see how many of the plans come to fruition and if we will ever meet any of the targets we have set out.
If you are wanting to adopt a greener lifestyle and are wondering about which EV is right for you, please get in touch. A member of our technical team will happily answer any questions you may have. Call us on 0141 280 8890 or drop us an email at info@britetechnicalservices.co.uk.
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