新型コロナ流行で中国のＣＯ２排出量激減、研究

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国経済をまひ状態に追い込んだ新型コロナウイルスの流行が、環境にはプラスに働いている可能性があるとの研究結果が19日、発表された。（写真は資料写真）
　フィンランドの研究機関「センター・フォー・リサーチ・オン・エナジー・アンド・クリーンエア」によると、中国の二酸化炭素（ＣＯ２）排出量は直近２週間で少なくとも１億トン減少した。これは、昨年同期の世界の排出量の約６％に相当する。
　中国で急速に感染が拡大した新型ウイルスは、これまでに死者２０００人以上、感染者７万４０００人以上を出した。この影響で石炭・石油の需要が下がり、排出量の激減につながったと研究は指摘している。流行を受けて中国では、春節（旧正月）の休暇が延長されていた。
　研究によれば、直近２週間の石炭火力発電所の１日当たりの発電量は、同期比で４年ぶりに大幅低下。鉄鋼生産量も同５年ぶりの低水準を記録した。
　また、世界最大の石油輸入・消費国である中国の石油精製を中心的に担う山東省では、製油量が２０１５年秋以来に落ち込んだ。
　「コロナウイルス封じ込め対策の結果、主要産業セクターの生産量は１５～４０％下がった」と研究チームは指摘している。
　この研究は、環境問題専門の英情報サイト「カーボン・ブリーフ」に掲載された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/02/21-08:21）

The coronavirus epidemic that has paralysed the Chinese economy may have a silver lining for the environment.
China's carbon emissions have dropped by least 100 million metric tonnes over the past two weeks, according to a study published on Wednesday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) in Finland.
That is nearly six percent of global emissions during the same period last year.
The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus -- which has killed over 2,000 and infected more than 74,000 people across China -- has led to a drop in demand for coal and oil, resulting in the emissions slump, the study published on the British-based Carbon Brief website said.
Over the past two weeks, daily power generation at coal power plants was at a four-year low compared with the same period last year, while steel production has sunk to a five-year low, researchers found.
China is the world's biggest importer and consumer of oil, but production at refineries in Shandong province -- the country's petroleum hub -- fell to the lowest level since autumn 2015, the report said.
Economic activity in China usually picks up after the Lunar New Year holiday, which began on January 25.
But authorities extended the holidays this year -- by a week in many parts of the country including Shanghai -- in an effort to contain the epidemic by keeping people at home.
Measures to contain coronavirus have resulted in reductions of 15 percent to 40 percent in output across key industrial sectors, the report said.
This is likely to have wiped out a quarter or more of the country's CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions over the past two weeks, the period when activity would normally have resumed after the Chinese New Year holiday.
But environmentalists have warned that the reduction is temporary, and that a government stimulus -- if directed at ramping up production among heavy polluters -- could reverse the environmental gains.
After the coronavirus calms down, it is quite likely we will observe a round of so-called 'retaliatory pollutions' - factories maximising production to compensate for their losses during the shutdown period, said Li Shuo, a policy adviser for Greenpeace China.
This is a tested and proven pattern.
Meanwhile, China's nitrogen dioxide emissions -- a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion in vehicles and power plants -- fell 36 percent in the week following the Lunar New Year holidays, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to another study by CREA that used satellite data.