BLOG: Climate change in the time of a pandemic

Here, University Energy Officer, Danielle Bird, who is also a UON Environmental Science graduate, considers the impact the pandemic is having on global CO2 emissions, the UK’s emissions strategy – and how the University is playing its part.

The pandemic has dominated our lives and the news. It has caused unprecedented and (previously) unimaginable impacts on the way we live and what we consider ‘normality’. This includes our current relationship with the environment. At the beginning of the first national (and global) lockdown in spring, we saw significant drops in air pollution from the reduction of road transport; peaks of the Himalayas could be seen for the first time in 30 years; the waters ran clear in Venice canals; wildlife was spotted roaming more freely in urban areas. It seemed for a while that nature was recovering, and it gave us a glimmer of hope that actually, we could improve our fight against climate change.

However, whilst this is positive news for the environment, in the grand scheme of things it is still not enough. According to the UN Emissions Gap report published in late 2020, whilst global CO2 emissions reduced by seven per cent in 2020, this is likely to equate to only a 0.01˚C reduction in global warming by 2050, which is not a significant step towards the 2 ˚C warming limit set in the Paris Agreement. A key message from the report is that a ‘green pandemic recovery’ could reduce predicted greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 by 25 per cent, which is much more in line with a ‘Paris Agreement pathway’.

It’s not all doom and gloom

Whilst a very challenging road lies ahead, it is not all doom and gloom. UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 were 45 per cent lower than 1990 baseline levels. This decrease has largely been a result of the ‘greening of the grid’ where we are moving away from fossil fuels and towards more renewable energy sources. Energy from UK power stations in 2019 produced 57.4Mt CO2e compared to 203 MtCO2e in 1990.

Energy is essential but, In the UK, emissions from energy production and generation accounted for 26 per cent of the total CO2 emissions in 2019; the second highest emitter behind transport (34 per cent). Whilst low carbon energy sources supplied 48 per cent of fuel needed for electricity in 2019, there is still a long way to go to meet the targets outlined in the 10-step plan announced by the Government in November.

Also published recently was the UK Sixth Carbon Budget: The UK’s path to Net Zero. One of its key recommendations is that we need a 75 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035 from the 1990 baseline levels and that a shift towards low carbon energy and low carbon solutions is key to achieve this goal. Direct energy emissions from buildings are mainly due to using fossil fuels for heating, but approximately 74 per cent of the UK’s heating and hot water supply is currently provided by natural gas. Low carbon heat sources will need to play a major role in reducing direct emissions.

The University of Northampton is committed to the reduction of its carbon footprint and has ambitious strategies in place around the institution’s own energy use. We have signed up to the UN SDG Accord – and have our Energy Policy in place alongside other strategies to continually improve our sustainability. The move to our new Waterside campus, in 2018, has played a crucial part in becoming more energy efficient. Waterside is efficiently designed with sensor LED lighting, ventilation, green roofs and our own on-site heat network that is powered by a biomass boiler. The biomass boiler supplied 83 per cent of the heat to the campus in 2019/20, saving over 400 CO2e (t) compared to natural gas.