How did global carbon dioxide emissions decline only by 6.4% in 2020 despite major global lockdowns and travel restrictions? What would have to happen for them to drop by say 50%?

Question

Source for the 6.4% number: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3

In: 5

Answer 1

The pollution isn’t from the end user. It’s from manufacture and production of good and energy.

Answer 2

Because that’s about how much the public directly contributes to the total. The overwhelming majority is produced by large scale, industrial contributors. Those sources do not stop, just because some folks have to stay inside.

Answer 3

Shockingly to many ordinary people (although not to the large oil companies), consumers are actually not big contributors to emissions and climate change…it’s almost as if the whole “carbon footprint” thing [was made up by an oil company to make consumers blame themselves and not take action against big oil](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook).

This was brilliantly evidenced by the statistics you cite in your post, OP.

Answer 4

Keep in mind also, in terms of energy costs, if 100 people go work in a building, you expend energy to heat / cool that building, have the lights on, etc., but that’s at least partially offset by people, not being home and not using as much energy at home. During Covid, people stayed home, used more energy at home, and a lot of those buildings*still* used energy to maintain a certain level of heat/cool. People using energy to cool/heat individual homes is not a particularly efficient use.