From the effect on wildlife to pollution levels and air quality, a fair amount has been heard about the environmental impact this pandemic is having.

And now it appears that the global demand for energy is set to plummet by record amounts due to the lockdowns being enforced around the world.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is forecasting a 6% drop in energy demand for the year, which would be the steepest fall in more than 70 years and a record amount in absolute terms.

The IEA said this would lead to a drop in carbon dioxide emissions of 8%, six times larger than the biggest fall in 2009 which followed the financial crash.

“Given the number of deaths and the economic trauma around the world, this historic decline in global emissions is absolutely nothing to cheer,” the organisation’s executive director Fatih Birol told Reuters news agency.