France
And it seems that many lawmakers are listening.
Plastic bag restrictions have been lifted across the country. In New York and Maine, recently introduced bans have been delayed. In Connecticut, plastic bag fees have been removed, while in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu prohibited shoppers from bringing reusable bags and ordered stores to make disposable bags available.
Likewise, the crisis has been a boon for the auto industry, with the Trump administration seizing the moment to fulfill a campaign promise to weaken Obama-era emissions standards. Automakers in the EU are also lobbying for a delay in tightening emissions restrictions because of the crisis. And in China, plans for tougher standards look likely to be delayed to help struggling automakers.
Airlines including Delta and JetBlue started off the year promising carbon offsets amid a growing culture of "flight shaming." The airline industry is also lobbying for government bailouts and regulation relief.
With governments focused on the crisis, there are also fears that the diplomatic push to refocus global efforts on reducing emissions could slip.
The United Nations' COP 26 climate conference, scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, has been postponed until 2021. It had been hailed as the most important climate gathering since the Paris climate accord was signed in 2015. Under that agreement, countries are due to come back to the table with new pledges to limit warming to the agreed-upon level of "well below 2 degrees" Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and ideally below 1.5 degrees.
It's "abundantly clear that the countries of the world are falling short of the goals of the Paris agreement," said Dr. Simon Evans, deputy editor of Carbon Brief, a climate science website.
"Current pledges have the world on track for warming of about 3 degrees" Celsius, he added.
Environmentalists have already raised concerns after Japan — the world's fifth-biggest emitter — became the first G7 country to announce its new targets. The plan, however, would simply maintain the country's existing emission reduction pledges. The World Resources Institute, a research nonprofit based in Washington, criticized the approach for falling "woefully short."
A successful outcome in Glasgow, therefore, looks likely to require extensive preparatory work and diplomacy. As Evans said, the Paris agreement was "built on years of diplomatic efforts on the part of the French government and the whole French diplomatic service over the course of about three years."
Although the postponement of the climate conference does provide welcome extra time for work toward a successful summit, he argued that it is "inevitable that countries' preparatory work toward their new pledges" will have been affected.
So while the world looks likely to emerge from the pandemic — at least temporarily — with cleaner air and lower emissions, "any positive environmental impact" from the crisis relies on our "changing our production and consumption habits towards cleaner and greener," Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, wrote this week.
"Only long-term systemic shifts will change the trajectory of CO2 levels in the atmosphere," she said.
Although the science is far from clear, plastic makers have long argued that single-use plastics are safer and more sanitary than reusable alternatives. Plastics Industry Association CEO Tony Radosewski recently stressed the need for more single-use plastics to combat the spread of the virus in a letter March 18 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
And it seems that many lawmakers are listening.
Plastic bag restrictions have been lifted across the country. In New York and Maine, recently introduced bans have been delayed. In Connecticut, plastic bag fees have been removed, while in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu prohibited shoppers from bringing reusable bags and ordered stores to make disposable bags available.
Likewise, the crisis has been a boon for the auto industry, with the Trump administration seizing the moment to fulfill a campaign promise to weaken Obama-era emissions standards. Automakers in the EU are also lobbying for a delay in tightening emissions restrictions because of the crisis. And in China, plans for tougher standards look likely to be delayed to help struggling automakers.
Airlines including Delta and JetBlue started off the year promising carbon offsets amid a growing culture of "flight shaming." The airline industry is also lobbying for government bailouts and regulation relief.
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With governments focused on the crisis, there are also fears that the diplomatic push to refocus global efforts on reducing emissions could slip.
The United Nations' COP 26 climate conference, scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, has been postponed until 2021. It had been hailed as the most important climate gathering since the Paris climate accord was signed in 2015. Under that agreement, countries are due to come back to the table with new pledges to limit warming to the agreed-upon level of "well below 2 degrees" Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and ideally below 1.5 degrees.
It's "abundantly clear that the countries of the world are falling short of the goals of the Paris agreement," said Dr. Simon Evans, deputy editor of Carbon Brief, a climate science website.
"Current pledges have the world on track for warming of about 3 degrees" Celsius, he added.
Environmentalists have already raised concerns after Japan — the world's fifth-biggest emitter — became the first G7 country to announce its new targets. The plan, however, would simply maintain the country's existing emission reduction pledges. The World Resources Institute, a research nonprofit based in Washington, criticized the approach for falling "woefully short."
A successful outcome in Glasgow, therefore, looks likely to require extensive preparatory work and diplomacy. As Evans said, the Paris agreement was "built on years of diplomatic efforts on the part of the French government and the whole French diplomatic service over the course of about three years."
Although the postponement of the climate conference does provide welcome extra time for work toward a successful summit, he argued that it is "inevitable that countries' preparatory work toward their new pledges" will have been affected.
So while the world looks likely to emerge from the pandemic — at least temporarily — with cleaner air and lower emissions, "any positive environmental impact" from the crisis relies on our "changing our production and consumption habits towards cleaner and greener," Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, wrote this week.
"Only long-term systemic shifts will change the trajectory of CO2 levels in the atmosphere," she said.
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