9/3/2023 0 Comments Covid news europe lockdown![]() Finally, it is crucial to independently verify whether pledged emission reductions complement bottom-up reporting of national emission estimates, highlighting the importance of long-term atmospheric observational programmes such as those used in both studies. As the COVID-19 lockdown showed, changes in human behaviour have a direct, immediate, and significant effect on urban CO 2 emissions. To effectively mitigate climate change, the researchers conclude that there has to be a bigger systemic change in cities’ ecosystems and in people’s lifestyles. The four cities with emissions growing slowly back to the pre-Covid-levels were – in addition to Amsterdam – Vienna in Austria, London in the UK, and Heraklion in Greece. This explains why residential areas saw the quickest rebound in emissions after the restrictions were lifted. The main reason for the reduced CO 2 emissions in all cities was the reduction of vehicular traffic caused by the limitations on mobility. Emissions in tourist cities rebounded the slowest It is therefore independent of bookkeeping methods relying on energy statistics. For the first time, this new method allows for the tracking of emission reductions at the regional level in near real-time based on atmospheric observations. ![]() Whilst the first study focuses on urban areas, with limited exchange with the vegetation, this second method combines CO 2 and oxygen measurements in order to separate the CO 2 signal into fossil combustion and the vegetation contributions, which is not possible using CO 2 measurements alone.ĭr Ingrid Luijkx (Wageningen University & Research): “Our results show the importance of the use of atmospheric measurements of O 2 in deriving the fossil fuel CO 2 signal, which is otherwise lost in the large natural variability of the CO 2 signal of the vegetation”. The second recent study (Science Advances) led by Dr Pickers at University of East Anglia, and with contributions from Wageningen University & Research as well, also showed COVID-19 lockdown CO 2 emission reductions of 23% at the regional level in the UK. ![]() Tracking regional emission reductions for the first time However, the areas observed in these cities are characterized by a large number of tourists, which dropped down significantly during the pandemic,” says Dr Gert-Jan Steeneveld from the Meteorology and Air Quality chair group at Wageningen University & Research. “Amsterdam was among the four cities where emissions remained low even after the strict restrictions were lifted. This tower measures the CO 2 emissions from the inner city of Amsterdam. Wageningen University & Research and AMS Institute contributed to this study with CO 2 flux observations at a tower at the NH Collection Amsterdam Flower Market Hotel in Amsterdam. ![]() This study was initiated and led by other scientists from ICOS, the Integrated Carbon Observation System that produces greenhouse gas data in Europe. Measurements as part of the Amsterdam Atmospheric Monitoring Supersite (AAMS) showed the emissions were reduced by 40% during the lockdown and surprisingly, they remained about 30% lower for four months after the lockdown before they started to rise again. shows that urban emissions were reduced by 5% to 87% across 11 cities and 13 measurement sites when compared to the same period in previous years. The first recently published study in Science of the Total Environment by Giacomo Nicolini et al. Human economic activity and transport in cities stopped almost instantly, and many people had to move their work from offices to homes.Īmsterdam was among the four cities where emissions remained low even after the strict restrictions were lifted As COVID-19 first hit Europe in the spring of 2020, most countries, including The Netherlands, implemented strict measures to limit the spread of the virus. ![]()
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