新型コロナ流行で中国のCO2排出量激減、研究
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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)
Coronavirus outbreak slashes China carbon emissions-- study
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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.
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