Environmental benefits of the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus has led many countries to implement strict social distance rules. In these practices, there were restrictions such as curfew, restriction/suspension of transportation, closing of schools, closing of workplaces or opening them part-time. Although it is aimed to save human life by maintaining social distance and slowing down the spread of the virus with such restrictions, it has created many negative social and economic effects. However, this lockdown also has some positive effects on the natural environment. According to the scientific reports of various international institutions and organizations, it is seen that environmental pollution has decreased in the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent data released by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) show that pollution of COVID-19 has decreased by up to 30 % in some epicenters such as China, Europe and the USA. The International Energy Agency (IEA) emphasized that global emissions decreased by 2.6 Gt CO2 in 2020 compared to the previous year. In addition, according to Japan's Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) data, it has been observed that the 2020 carbon emissions in Beijing have decreased significantly compared to the previous years. In this study, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental pollution was examined with environmental data published by NASA, ESA and GOSAT, and its impact on environmental quality was discussed. © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Berlin 2021 All rights reserved.