The impact of COVID-19 on air pollution: Evidence from global data

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is producing significant economic and social cost globally. As a cure or a treatment is yet unavailable, social distancing is considered the key way to prevent it. Mobility restrictions and confinement measures implemented across the world are considered to help reduce air pollution. However, empirical examination of the link between public mobility changes and air pollution during the COVID-19 period remains unavailable. This paper examines the short and long run impacts of mobility changes on carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by employing three dynamic estimators on a panel of 35 countries covering daily data from 15 February to April 17, 2020 - a period when most countries went into strict lockdowns. Findings show a consistent evidence at the all-countries level and across regions that long-run indoor mobility increases reduce CO emissions, while outdoor mobility increases across places such as transit stations, workplaces, grocery & pharmacies, retail & recreation, and parks drive up emissions. Among the regions studied, Europe excluding the EU and the UK (-8.4%), followed by East Asia and the Pacific (-4.3%), sees a larger emissions reduction from increased indoor mobility. While short-run effects are limited in general, emissions in US-Canada respond to indoor and outdoor mobility changes in both the short (1.1%) and long run (-1.4%). Findings overall indicate that reducing unnecessary outdoor mobility could help in maintaining air quality in the post-pandemic world.

Keywords: CO emissions; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Environmental quality; Pollution.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

Average CO emissions across all countries Fig. 1(a): Average CO emissions across all countries Fig. 1(b): Average CO emissions by region Source: authors’ developed based on AQI data used in this research.

Fig. 2

Average daily mobility changes across all countries by category of places Source: authors’ developed based on Google mobility data.

Fig. 3

Region-wise average daily mobility changes by category of places Source: authors’ developed based on Google mobility data used in this research.