Consumer Carbon Emissions Slashed by a Quarter Due to Lockdown

A new report shows that the drop in consumer spending as a result of the lockdown has eliminated almost the same amount of carbon emissions that the city of Nottingham produces annually.

People travelling less, and consumers cutting down on clothes shopping, led to carbon emissions from the country’s main consumer industries plunging by over 25% during the lockdown.

The study, carried out by Carbon Trust, analysed the spending data of over 3 million of Lloyds Bank’s customers.

They found that the sudden nosedive in spending levels from the end of March to early July led to carbon emissions falling by 27%, equivalent to 4.3m tonnes, when compared to the same time period last year.

The study found that a continued decrease in consumer spending, even after the lockdown was eased, has likely caused carbon emissions for the year so far to be 14% lower than they were in the same months in 2019.

A total of 4.76m tonnes of CO2 emissions were slashed from the economy as a result of the travel restrictions. This was due to decreased spending on road fuels, plane tickets, and commuting.

Additionally, 620,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions were cut due to decreased spending on clothing.

Despite the sharp drop in carbon emissions due to the coronavirus pandemic, experts have warned that it is not very likely to have any kind of meaningful impact on the global climate emergency.

However, the Carbon Trust’s Myles McCarthy believes that the lockdown may have led the public to become more aware of how their actions and habits affect the environment, and this could have a lasting impact on behaviour.

“The changes in spending were driven by a global pandemic not by choice, but our analysis of Lloyds Banking Group customer spending does demonstrate the link between the actions we take in our everyday lives and the impact these have on the level of carbon emissions, a major cause of climate change,” said McCarthy.

A separate survey by YouGov has found that a third of adults in the UK will now change the way they travel and shop in order to reduce their carbon footprint after the lockdown.

“We have an opportunity to build on this increased awareness and create the low carbon businesses and infrastructure to help people reduce their impact on the environment,” added McCarthy.