2020 declines in carbon emissions were staggering. Can we keep it that way?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

They started as unexpected silver linings — clearer skies and cleaner air in cities from Los Angeles to New Delhi and a much-celebrated return of fish and crystal-clear waters to the oft-murky canals of Venice, Italy. By the end of last year, these local anecdotes were real and measurable markers of the pandemic's unintended climate benefits.

Yet, while heartening, the environmental reprieve isn't expected to last. There are already signs that as countries try to return to a new normal, economic activity — and all the emissions and pollution that go along with it — will creep up again.

And if the pandemic revealed what could be considered low-hanging fruit in the climate fight, it also highlighted the sheer scope of the problem.

"If you think about the scale of action that we need — if we want to limit warming as is proposed in the Paris Agreement — we would need to reduce carbon emissions by 1 or 2 billion tons every year," said Corinne Le Quéré, a professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. "That's less than what we did during the pandemic, but it's still a big number."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/2020-declines-in-carbon-emissions-were-staggering-can-we-keep-it-that-way/ar-BB1fVyqU?li=BBnbklE&ocid=DELLDHP