CANBERRA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Global carbon dioxide emissions have fallen significantly as a result of coronavirus lockdowns, researchers have found.

The Global Carbon Project, which is comprised of researchers from Australia, Britain, the United States and the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO), on Wednesday published the first study of global emissions in 2020.

It revealed dramatic fall in global carbon emissions.

"Emissions reached their peak decline on April 7, with a 17 percent decline compared to the same time last year," Pep Canadell, a co-author of the study from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), said in a media release.

The amount of carbon dioxide emitted by surface transport, which includes vehicles on roads and shipping, declined 36 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

"Across other sectors, the power sector ranked second and the industry sector third in terms of their contributions to the global decrease in emissions in early April," Canadell said.

With planes mostly grounded emissions from the global aviation, industry were down 60 percent in early April.

The authors of the study projected a 7.5 percent fall in emissions for 2020 if countries remain in lockdown for the rest of the year and a fall of 4.2 percent if restrictions are lifted by mid-June.