Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts

Giacomo Nicolini; Gabriele Antoniella; Federico Carotenuto; Andreas Christen; Philippe Ciais; Christian Feigenwinter; Beniamino Gioli; Stavros Stagakis; Erik Velasco; Roland Vogt; Helen C. Ward; Janet Barlow; Nektarios Chrysoulakis; Pierpaolo Duce; Martin Graus; Carole Helfter; Bert Heusinkveld; Leena Järvi; Thomas Karl; Serena Marras; Valéry Masson; Bradley Matthews; Fred Meier; Eiko Nemitz; Simone Sabbatini; Dieter Scherer; Helmut Schume; Costantino Sirca; Gert-Jan Steeneveld; Carolina Vagnoli; Yilong Wang; Alessandro Zaldei; Bo Zheng; Dario Papale

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154662

Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts

Giacomo Nicolini^*, Gabriele Antoniella, Federico Carotenuto, Andreas Christen, Philippe Ciais, Christian Feigenwinter, Beniamino Gioli, Stavros Stagakis, Erik Velasco, Roland Vogt, Helen C. Ward, Janet Barlow, Nektarios Chrysoulakis, Pierpaolo Duce, Martin Graus, Carole Helfter, Bert Heusinkveld, Leena Järvi, Thomas Karl, Serena MarrasValéry Masson, Bradley Matthews, Fred Meier, Eiko Nemitz, Simone Sabbatini, Dieter Scherer, Helmut Schume, Costantino Sirca, Gert-Jan Steeneveld, Carolina Vagnoli, Yilong Wang, Alessandro Zaldei, Bo Zheng, Dario Papale

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 included restrictions of people's mobility and reductions in economic activities. These drastic changes in daily life, enforced through national lockdowns, led to abrupt reductions of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in urbanized areas all over the world. To examine the effect of social restrictions on local emissions of CO2, we analysed district level CO2 fluxes measured by the eddy-covariance technique from 13 stations in 11 European cities. The data span several years before the pandemic until October 2020 (six months after the pandemic began in Europe). All sites showed a reduction in CO2 emissions during the national lockdowns. The magnitude of these reductions varies in time and space, from city to city as well as between different areas of the same city. We found that, during the first lockdowns, urban CO2 emissions were cut with respect to the same period in previous years by 5% to 87% across the analysed districts, mainly as a result of limitations on mobility. However, as the restrictions were lifted in the following months, emissions quickly rebounded to their pre-COVID levels in the majority of sites.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	154662
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	830
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154662
Publication status	Published - 15 Jul 2022

Keywords

Corona virus pandemic
Eddy-covariance
Social restrictions
Traffic emissions
Urban fluxes
Urban pollution

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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https://edepot.wur.nl/567718Licence: CC BY

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Nicolini, G., Antoniella, G., Carotenuto, F., Christen, A., Ciais, P., Feigenwinter, C., Gioli, B., Stagakis, S., Velasco, E., Vogt, R., Ward, H. C., Barlow, J., Chrysoulakis, N., Duce, P., Graus, M., Helfter, C., Heusinkveld, B., Järvi, L., Karl, T., ... Papale, D. (2022). Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts. Science of the Total Environment, 830, 154662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154662

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title = "Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts",

abstract = "The measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 included restrictions of people's mobility and reductions in economic activities. These drastic changes in daily life, enforced through national lockdowns, led to abrupt reductions of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in urbanized areas all over the world. To examine the effect of social restrictions on local emissions of CO2, we analysed district level CO2 fluxes measured by the eddy-covariance technique from 13 stations in 11 European cities. The data span several years before the pandemic until October 2020 (six months after the pandemic began in Europe). All sites showed a reduction in CO2 emissions during the national lockdowns. The magnitude of these reductions varies in time and space, from city to city as well as between different areas of the same city. We found that, during the first lockdowns, urban CO2 emissions were cut with respect to the same period in previous years by 5% to 87% across the analysed districts, mainly as a result of limitations on mobility. However, as the restrictions were lifted in the following months, emissions quickly rebounded to their pre-COVID levels in the majority of sites.",

keywords = "Corona virus pandemic, Eddy-covariance, Social restrictions, Traffic emissions, Urban fluxes, Urban pollution",

author = "Giacomo Nicolini and Gabriele Antoniella and Federico Carotenuto and Andreas Christen and Philippe Ciais and Christian Feigenwinter and Beniamino Gioli and Stavros Stagakis and Erik Velasco and Roland Vogt and Ward, {Helen C.} and Janet Barlow and Nektarios Chrysoulakis and Pierpaolo Duce and Martin Graus and Carole Helfter and Bert Heusinkveld and Leena J{\"a}rvi and Thomas Karl and Serena Marras and Val{\'e}ry Masson and Bradley Matthews and Fred Meier and Eiko Nemitz and Simone Sabbatini and Dieter Scherer and Helmut Schume and Costantino Sirca and Gert-Jan Steeneveld and Carolina Vagnoli and Yilong Wang and Alessandro Zaldei and Bo Zheng and Dario Papale",

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Nicolini, G, Antoniella, G, Carotenuto, F, Christen, A, Ciais, P, Feigenwinter, C, Gioli, B, Stagakis, S, Velasco, E, Vogt, R, Ward, HC, Barlow, J, Chrysoulakis, N, Duce, P, Graus, M, Helfter, C, Heusinkveld, B, Järvi, L, Karl, T, Marras, S, Masson, V, Matthews, B, Meier, F, Nemitz, E, Sabbatini, S, Scherer, D, Schume, H, Sirca, C, Steeneveld, G-J, Vagnoli, C, Wang, Y, Zaldei, A, Zheng, B & Papale, D 2022, 'Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 830, pp. 154662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154662

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T1 - Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts

AU - Nicolini, Giacomo

AU - Antoniella, Gabriele

AU - Carotenuto, Federico

AU - Christen, Andreas

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Feigenwinter, Christian

AU - Gioli, Beniamino

AU - Stagakis, Stavros

AU - Velasco, Erik

AU - Vogt, Roland

AU - Ward, Helen C.

AU - Barlow, Janet

AU - Chrysoulakis, Nektarios

AU - Duce, Pierpaolo

AU - Graus, Martin

AU - Helfter, Carole

AU - Heusinkveld, Bert

AU - Järvi, Leena

AU - Karl, Thomas

AU - Marras, Serena

AU - Masson, Valéry

AU - Matthews, Bradley

AU - Meier, Fred

AU - Nemitz, Eiko

AU - Sabbatini, Simone

AU - Scherer, Dieter

AU - Schume, Helmut

AU - Sirca, Costantino

AU - Steeneveld, Gert-Jan

AU - Vagnoli, Carolina

AU - Wang, Yilong

AU - Zaldei, Alessandro

AU - Zheng, Bo

AU - Papale, Dario

PY - 2022/7/15

Y1 - 2022/7/15

N2 - The measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 included restrictions of people's mobility and reductions in economic activities. These drastic changes in daily life, enforced through national lockdowns, led to abrupt reductions of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in urbanized areas all over the world. To examine the effect of social restrictions on local emissions of CO2, we analysed district level CO2 fluxes measured by the eddy-covariance technique from 13 stations in 11 European cities. The data span several years before the pandemic until October 2020 (six months after the pandemic began in Europe). All sites showed a reduction in CO2 emissions during the national lockdowns. The magnitude of these reductions varies in time and space, from city to city as well as between different areas of the same city. We found that, during the first lockdowns, urban CO2 emissions were cut with respect to the same period in previous years by 5% to 87% across the analysed districts, mainly as a result of limitations on mobility. However, as the restrictions were lifted in the following months, emissions quickly rebounded to their pre-COVID levels in the majority of sites.

AB - The measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 included restrictions of people's mobility and reductions in economic activities. These drastic changes in daily life, enforced through national lockdowns, led to abrupt reductions of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in urbanized areas all over the world. To examine the effect of social restrictions on local emissions of CO2, we analysed district level CO2 fluxes measured by the eddy-covariance technique from 13 stations in 11 European cities. The data span several years before the pandemic until October 2020 (six months after the pandemic began in Europe). All sites showed a reduction in CO2 emissions during the national lockdowns. The magnitude of these reductions varies in time and space, from city to city as well as between different areas of the same city. We found that, during the first lockdowns, urban CO2 emissions were cut with respect to the same period in previous years by 5% to 87% across the analysed districts, mainly as a result of limitations on mobility. However, as the restrictions were lifted in the following months, emissions quickly rebounded to their pre-COVID levels in the majority of sites.

KW - Corona virus pandemic

KW - Eddy-covariance

KW - Social restrictions

KW - Traffic emissions

KW - Urban fluxes

KW - Urban pollution

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154662

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154662

M3 - Article

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 830

SP - 154662

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

ER -

Direct observations of CO2 emission reductions due to COVID-19 lockdown across European urban districts

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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