Build back better is the catch phrase of politicians in the US and UK, promising net zero carbon emissions in just a few years after the pandemic has passed. Is that realistic?

In 2020, cities came to a Covid-induced standstill, with global car emissions dropping by 17% in April 2020 alone.

Over the first full half of 2020 they were down by around 9%. In April and March global air traffic plummeted by 80%.

But the bitter truth is these kind of patterns have not held. With much public transport seen as unsafe, hundreds of thousands have flocked back to their cars.

As early as March 2020 road traffic levels were back to normal in many Chinese cities and even in London levels had returned to their historical averages by September 2020.

And as for air travel, relaxations have seen people flock back to airports.

In China, flights returned to pre-pandemic levels – and beyond – by October 2020.

A flight free future could be some way off yet.

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