Global patterns of daily CO2 emissions reductions in the first year of COVID-19

Observed daily changes in CO2 emissions from across the globe reveal the sectors and countries where pandemic-related emissions declines were most pronounced in 2020. Day-to-day changes in CO2 emissions from human activities, in particular fossil-fuel combustion and cement production, reflect a complex balance of influences from seasonality, working days, weather and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we provide a daily CO2 emissions dataset for the whole year of 2020, calculated from inventory and near-real-time activity data. We find a global reduction of 6.3% (2,232 MtCO(2)) in CO2 emissions compared with 2019. The drop in daily emissions during the first part of the year resulted from reduced global economic activity due to the pandemic lockdowns, including a large decrease in emissions from the transportation sector. However, daily CO2 emissions gradually recovered towards 2019 levels from late April with the partial reopening of economic activity. Subsequent waves of lockdowns in late 2020 continued to cause smaller CO2 reductions, primarily in western countries. The extraordinary fall in emissions during 2020 is similar in magnitude to the sustained annual emissions reductions necessary to limit global warming at 1.5 degrees C. This underscores the magnitude and speed at which the energy transition needs to advance.

Automated summary

Observing daily changes in CO2 emissions, the study reveals the sectors and countries where the pandemic-related emissions declines were most pronounced in 2020. The reductions in emissions were mainly driven by the decrease in global economic activity, particularly in the transportation sector, during the lockdowns. However, as economic activity partially reopened, CO2 emissions gradually recovered towards pre-pandemic levels.