Environmental effect of the Coronavirus-19 determinants and lockdown on carbon emissions

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus-19 has affected carbon emissions, which was declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization. Unprecedented environmental effects are being caused by Bangladesh's strict lockdown policies, which were implemented to stop the spread of Coronavirus-19. However, it is still unclear how the temporary halting and restart of industrial and commercial activities will affect the environment. In this study, it has been identified how Coronavirus-19 determinants like lockdown, daily confirmed cases, and daily confirmed deaths affect greenhouse gases. METHODS: From March 18, 2020 to February 4, 2022 the data series is used for Bangladesh. To ensure that the data series were stationary, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips-Perron tests were utilized. Johansen co-integration test was utilized to determine co-integration among variables. The Granger causality test was utilized to identify directional causes and effects between Coronavirus-19 determinants and carbon emissions and the Vector Error Correction Model was employed to determine short-run and long run connections. FINDINGS: The study finds a bidirectional relationship between lockdown, carbon emissions and daily confirmed deaths, while a unidirectional association exists among Coronavirus-19 confirmed cases according to the Vector Error Correction Model. The Granger causality test also established the relationship between variables, except for daily confirmed cases. The pandemic's onset and subsequent lockdown resulted in decreased carbon dioxide emissions. The short-run link of carbon dioxide emissions with newly confirmed cases was corroborated by the directional relationship of variables, whereas there was a long-term and short-term association between confirmed deaths and lockdown. CONCLUSION: The reduction in carbon emissions during the pandemic will not be long-lasting because it is anticipated that global economic activity will gradually return to the preCoronavirus-19 state. The directional and relational nature of lockdown offers the potential to connect carbon dioxide emissions to regular lives. During a lockdown, there is a connection between the atmosphere's changes and how natural organisms behave. Importantly, there is a room for investigation into how communities of organisms and the atmosphere would function without humans. The essential point is to stress that during the lockdown, the ecosystem is self-healing. Environmental activists and business people will find this study useful in developing future sustainable improvement strategies.