China’s coronavirus-related slowdown has wiped out the equivalent of the UK’s carbon emissions over six months, according to a new analysis that underscores the effect of the outbreak on the world’s second-largest economy.
China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by an estimated 200m tonnes in the four weeks to March 1, about the same as the Netherlands or Ukraine emit per year, said the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finnish research group. The outbreak was “unprecedented in its impact on economic activity and emissions”, said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at Crea.
Coal consumption at Chinese power plants and the utilisation of oil refining capacity were both down more than a third in the four weeks to March 1, compared with the same period a year ago, as large parts of China’s industrial base ground to a halt as the virus spread.