Corona Pandemic and its after effects on Carbon Footprint

The outbreak of “COVID 19” started from China and spread across the globe within a fraction of months and took a shape of pandemic which resulted in multiple lockdowns in almost every country. It touched every sphere of life and affected all the economies of the world.

During this lockdown period, one thing was clearly visible that is a reduction in the carbon footprint of every individual as well as of giant size organization. This lockdown period also gave us a good opportunity to think about our lifestyle and its impact on nature in the form of carbon footprints. Now you might be thinking what is a carbon footprint?

First, let’s understand the meaning of carbon footprint! In a very layman language, a carbon footprint is the impact of an individual or an organization over the health of nature through emission or generation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Every one of us does not contribute to these emission levels directly but all of us do huge contributions indirectly by using a variety of products. In the manufacturing of these products emissions definitely takes place and any person who uses them after it’s manufacturing is over, then that carbon generation becomes part of the carbon footprint of the individual who uses it.

So, here we can say that carbon footprint is an invisible impression that every human is leaving on this planet in the form of carbon pollution. Mind this, impressions are invisible but its impacts are not!

What happened during the lockdown period, most of us stopped using such products that generate emissions like automobiles, as well as manufacturing of products also got stopped. This resulted in a tremendous drop in carbon pollution levels and by seeing this impact many environmental agencies and experts even said that, "Earth is showing us a way towards sustainability!"

This has impacted organizations negatively if we see the production and procurement aspect, but it can act as an opportunity as well which depends on how organizations take it.

By saying this I want to take the attention of organizations over carbon credit trading and transfer which every company and country is doing these days with the increased awareness. Companies can use this opportunity to enhance their CSR profile, if they want or maybe for their contribution in achievement of SDGs like promoting sustainable development and resilient infrastructure; protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystem etc. However, my agenda here is to make everyone aware of what a huge difference we brought in such a small span of time, what if we continue such contribution towards nature just by changing small habits or possibly our entire lifestyle!

“What happened is just a coincidence but we need a fundamental structural change”! 

Such a change is not impossible, this is something which we can do, we have already done it during the lockdown. Now it’s our responsibility to take this small milestone for inspiration and further take conscious steps towards sustainable use of resources. Many environmentalists have said that, if the world could keep up annual emission cuts like this without a pandemic for a couple of decades, there is a decent chance that Earth can avoid warming another 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) of warming from now. So, let us carry forward this trend of being sustainable from now on.

I hope this article has shown you the pathway ahead for improvised living standards. Also, if you need any assistance for ‘how to make your business sustainable, feel free to get in touch with our experts at business@enkingint.org!