The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the whole world. As expected, efforts on practicing methods to reach Net-zero carbon emissions have taken a temporary halt as our collective effort has shifted to saving as many lives as possible from the virus crisis.
In this article, we’re going to look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the efforts to reach carbon goals, especially in the construction sector.
What is Net-Zero Carbon?
In the construction industry, Net Zero emission means that the quantity of carbon pollution released by the development and completion of the structure is effectively zero.
A zero-energy construction project, therefore, should have a total combined energy consumption of zero. This signifies that the entire quantity of energy used by the structure each year is identical to the amount of green energy generated by that building each year.
In essence, renewable energy production basically must even out the amount of energy used by the building.
The Journey to Net-Zero Carbon Emission
Even though the pandemic and stay-indoor mandates have lowered our carbon footprints, it still isn’t enough to lower the severity of the climate crisis we are facing.
Carbon usage quickly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels after the pandemic’s climax. This is why it is critical to refresh the course to net-zero carbon emissions as immediately as possible and on a greater scale.
Over 100 countries have signed and promised to reach the goals of carbon neutrality by 2050. However, the pandemic has stifled progress as supply chains around the world were severely affected. This disturbed multiple renewable energy projects across the world and delayed carbon reduction efforts. Recovery efforts from the pandemic should also include making the transition to clean energy as easy as possible.
There is no question that the pandemic drastically damaged the transition to clean energy. The prices of oil dropped and plenty of fossil fuel companies had to close their doors. This resulted in plenty of expensive bailouts and neglect in terms of renewable energy support.
Examples of countries we should follow on clean energy policies are Sweden, Germany, South Korea, and Japan where there are now laws on reducing carbon emissions. This is why these countries are ahead in the race to net-zero carbon in 2022.
Despite the pandemic delaying our transition to clean energy, we should stay focused and increase our efforts to honor our pledge to achieve zero-net carbon emissions before it is too late and the damage is too much.