Predictions were made earlier in the year as the pandemic was getting underway that CO2 emissions would be greatly reduced due to the enforced drop in economic activity and travel. While the fact that this has indeed happened will surprise few, the extent to which carbon emissions have fallen in 2020 has been calculated/estimated by Carbon Monitor.
As this infographic shows, global emissions are down by 6.5 percent. The largest contributor to this drop is the reduction in ground transport use – down 17 percent on 2019 and accounting for roughly half of the overall change. Of the individual countries for which data has been published, Spain has shown the largest decrease compared to 2019, as of August 31.
This chart shows the annual change in CO2 emissions around the world in 2020.
