China's skies are briefly clearer while factories stay shut

WASHINGTON (AP) — China’s far-reaching efforts to control the spread of the new coronavirus have shuttered factories, emptied airports and resulted in a steep drop in carbon emissions and other pollutants. However, analysts caution that the dip in pollution is likely temporary.

“The immediate reduction in emissions is very dramatic,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Helsinki.

Using data from coal, steel, oil and other industries, Myllyvirta calculated that China’s carbon emissions were 25% lower in the four weeks following the end of the Lunar New Year holiday — roughly the month of February — compared to the same time last year.

He doesn’t think the trend will hold.

“The important question now is how China’s government will respond. To make up for lost economic activity — including after the 2008-9 financial crisis – the government’s usual response is to launch massive stimulus packages focused on polluting smokestack industries,” he said. “That would make the environment worse long-term.”

NASA and the European Space Agency say their pollution monitoring satellites over China detected big drops since January in nitrogen dioxide, typically produced by motor vehicles, power plants and factories. “There is evidence that the change is at least partly related to the economic slowdown following the outbreak of coronavirus,” NASA said in a statement.

The drop in nitrogen dioxide was first detected around the epicenter of Wuhan, then spread across the country, NASA said.

Satellite images published online by NASA on Monday show the noxious cloud hanging over much of China virtually disappearing between Jan. 1 and Feb. 25.

For the moment, residents of many of China's cities are...