The Influence of COVID-19 on Global CO2 Emissions and Climate Change: A Perspective from Malaysia

Abstract

The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in early 2020 prompted a global lockdown from March to July 2020. Due to strict lockdown measures, many countries experienced economic downturns, negatively affecting many industries including energy, manufacturing, agriculture, finance, healthcare, food, education, tourism, and sports. Despite this, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a rare opportunity to observe the impacts of worldwide lockdown on global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and climate change. Being the main greenhouse gas responsible for rising global surface temperature, CO₂ is released to the atmosphere primarily by burning fossil fuels. Compared to 2019, CO₂ emissions for the world and Malaysia decreased significantly by 4.02% (−1365.83 MtCO₂) and 9.7% (−225.97 MtCO₂) in 2020. However, this is insufficient to cause long-term impacts on global CO₂ levels and climate change. Therefore, in this review, we explored the effects of worldwide lockdown on global CO₂ levels, the impacts of national lockdown on Malaysia’s CO₂ emissions, and the influence of climate change in Malaysia.