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“A global change in behaviour is required”

The substantial reduction in activity due to the pandemic caused by covid-19 has had a highly positive effect on the atmosphere. But what will and is likely to happen when the economy “warms up” again? Filipe Duarte Santos, a national expert on the environment, provides some leads


Empty streets, grounded aircraft, totally and partially closed-down industrial facilities. As governments in all countries have responded to the impact of the coronavirus, implementing containment measures for their citizens, air quality has improved significantly. The slowdown in the economy has resulted in major improvements to the atmosphere in a number of more industrialised regions and large cities such as Lisbon and Porto.

EMISSIONS DOWN BY 8%

This is due not only to the drastic reduction in emissions of nitrogen oxides and other molecules from internal combustion engine vehicle exhausts, but also to the drop in greenhouse gas emissions, in particular CO2.

According to Filipe Duarte Santos, a retired professor of physics at the University of Lisbon School of Sciences and president of the National Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development, “the 8% decrease in emissions between 2019 and 2020 is huge and is the biggest reduction arising from any of the crises of the 20th and 21st centuries”. In the professor´s opinion, “it´s greater than those arising from the Spanish flu, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II and, more recently, the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009". Moreover, this means that “we are facing the biggest economic crisis of modern times, and that the firm relationship between the consumption of fossil fuels and human activity still exists". Suffice it to say that around 80% of the energy we consume still comes from primary sources: coal, oil and natural gas.

"The 8% decrease in emissions between 2019 and 2020 is huge and is the biggest reduction arising from any of the crises of the 20th and 21st centuries"

“The reduction in emissions (...) is huge and is the biggest drop arising from all the crises of the 20th and 21st centuries”
However, as far Filipe Duarte Santos is concerned, other crises still exist and are linked to the impact of human activity on nature. On the one hand, “we have the crisis of the loss of biodiversity, due to pollution, the degradation of the environment and deforestation in different parts of the world”. And on the other, climate change.

Empty streets, the result of the pandemic in Porto …
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Empty streets, the result of the pandemic in Porto …

...in Lisbon
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...in Lisbon

… in Madrid
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… in Madrid

… in Sao Paulo, Brazil
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… in Sao Paulo, Brazil

… in central Warsaw
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… in central Warsaw

… and in Atlanta, USA
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… and in Atlanta, USA

Tools have been created to improve the future of the environment, established in the 2015 Paris Agreement, in addition to an extremely important goal: carbon neutrality by 2050. For this to happen, “annual greenhouse gas emissions would need to be reduced by 6% to 7%” by that date, says the expert.

SUSTAINABLE PROSPERITY

The indispensable economic recovery will lead to an increase in emissions, particularly if the current energy consumption scenario continues. “Awareness of the problem is essential, not only in relation to the world in which we live today, but also to the world we want to leave to our children and grandchildren”, he argues. To guarantee them a more sustainable future, “we need to stop placing value on economic prosperity alone”, says Filipe Duarte Santos. We need to place value on “sustainable prosperity, allowing simpler aspects of our life to flourish, those which involve less energy expenditure and consumerism”, he adds.

“There is a growing consensus on the need for change with regard to the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources”, says the expert. Far more than the political commitment of world governments is needed in order to put this into practice. “There is a need for a global change in behaviour”, argues Filipe Duarte Santos, explaining that this won´t be easy, “but it has to be done for the benefit of our planet and mankind”.