We all remember dolphins re-entering the Venetian Lagoon during the first lockdown due to the Corona pandemic in the spring of 2020. Nature breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived, though, and the positive effects of the traffic calming soon vanished into thin air. Should we go into lockdowns more often for our planet’s sake? The economist Karl Steininger gives this answer:
"The climate does not need a lockdown. What it needs is an unlocking – of our creativity. It needs a jointly developed vision of the future and it needs us to take conscious steps in that direction. Why? On 7 April 2020, the day on which the largest number of countries around the world – from China to the US – were in their first lockdown, just 17 percent fewer CO2 emissions were produced globally. Although there were practically no planes in the sky and traffic and industrial production had almost ground to a halt, this did not lead to a greater reduction of emissions.
This means we have a high level of underlying, structural emissions. To reduce this level to net zero, we will need to restructure. Three examples: We can reduce material and energy throughput by employing sharing models for everything from cars to tools, save up to 70 percent concrete in new buildings with clever formwork for suspended ceilings, use CO2 emissions as a raw material in the pharmaceutical industry. Shaping our future requires us to unlock our common sense, and yes, to break out of the familiar."