New Scientist - USA (2020-07-04)

4 July 2020 | New Scientist | 37

huge. What’s going to happen after that

depends on how we’re going to approach

the economic recovery. In 2009, during the

financial crash, emissions dropped 1.4 per

cent. They then grew more than 5 per cent

in 2010, which brought us exactly back to

where we were – square one – like nothing

had happened. There is a big risk for that

now as well.

Which way do you think the post-coronavirus

economic recovery will go?

It could be that governments do exactly

what they know best, like build roads and

finance the big carbon-emitting industries.

But there is an opportunity to invest in the

green economy now because renewable

energy is a lot cheaper than in 2010 and we

have all the knowledge required to make the

batteries that can store that energy. Will that

happen? Possibly in the UK. I would say even

probably in Europe. It’s not a given, but the

signs are reasonably good. Whether it will

happen worldwide is a bigger question. It’s a

little bit early to say.

What lessons, if any, does the covid-19

crisis hold for our efforts to avoid

dangerous warming?

Well, first to take risks seriously – and the

fact that we’re very vulnerable. The UK

is vulnerable because we have so many

inequalities in society, and you can see how

the crisis hits poor people harder. We have

to rebuild society in a way that makes it a

lot more resilient to climate-related events.

I think what’s happening also reveals that

behavioural change is not enough. The vast

majority of emissions remain, and the only

way to reduce those is with structural

changes to economies and industries.

In terms of cutting emissions, what are some
of the things that we have been doing during
lockdown that might be worth continuing?
When we go back to work, it is going to be
problematic because social distancing is
difficult on public transport. We have to
instead encourage those who can work at
home to do so, and to get as many people as
RO possible who can’t to cycle or walk to work.

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HE lockdowns imposed in many

countries in response to the

coronavirus have caused a dramatic

reduction in our carbon emissions. But there

is already evidence that this  won’t last.

So how can governments build on this

moment, as they plan for economic recovery,

to make progress towards net-zero targets?

Corinne Le Quéré has a few ideas. A

French-Canadian climate scientist at the

University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, she

is an expert on the policies required to meet

those targets and an advisor to the UK and

French governments, both of whom have

committed to reach net zero by 2050.

Le Quéré is also a leading authority on the

carbon cycle, with a particular interest in

what will become of natural carbon sinks,

such as forests and oceans, in a warming

world. Earlier this year, she was awarded the

Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for Environmental

Sciences, the Netherlands’s most prestigious

international science award.

Adam Vaughan: What do you expect will

happen to global carbon dioxide emissions

this year?

Corinne Le Quéré: Over the past decade,

emissions had been going up about 1 per

cent per year. Since March, with the

confinement and the restraints on travel,

there has been a really big effect. Our

estimates suggest a reduction in emissions

of between 4 and 7 per cent this year. This is