26 per cent drop in emissions in India due to COVID-19 lockdown: Study

India's emissions dropping by 26 per cent due to coronavirus-triggered lockdown, news agency PTI report said quoting a study.

The lockdown has led to a steep fall in global carbon emissions by 17 per cent in early April as compared to 2019 levels, the report said quoting the study. 

An international study published in the UK-based journal National Climate Change showed that the world experienced a sharp decline in carbon emissions between January and April, compared to average levels in 2019, and could decline anywhere between 4.4 per cent to 8 per cent by the end of this year.

"That figure would mark the largest annual decrease in carbon emissions since World War II," researchers said

Besides India, other countries like the UK and the US reduced 30.7 per cent and 31.6 per cent emissions, respectively. In China, the emissions reduced by 23.9 per cent, the study revealed.

"The first peer-reviewed analysis of the drop in carbon emissions during the COVID-19 lockdown has shown that daily emissions decreased by 17 per cent or 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide globally during the peak of the confinement on April 7, dropping to levels last observed in 2006.

"Emissions from land transport accounted for almost half (43 per cent) of the decrease, while power generation accounted for 19 per cent, industry for 25 per cent and aviation for 10 per cent," it said.

Lead author Professor Corinne Le Quéré of the University of East Anglia said, "Population confinement has led to drastic changes in energy use and CO2 emissions. These extreme decreases are likely to be temporary though, as they do not reflect structural changes in the economic, transport, or energy systems."

(With inputs from PTI)