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UN Report: CO2 Levels in Atmosphere Reach 3 Million-year High


Mon 25 Oct 2021 | 07:26 PM
Ahmad El-Assasy

According to a UN assessment released Monday, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has once again reached record highs, putting the world on track for warming that far exceeds essential thresholds for avoiding catastrophic climate change.

According to the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in 2020 were 149 percent higher than before industrialization, setting another yearly record.

The COVID-19 epidemic reduced new emissions temporarily, but had no detectable effect on the amount or impact of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, according to the paper. Instead, the modest increase in greenhouse gas emissions that had been observed during the previous decade has continued.

The findings heighten the sense of urgency ahead of the COP26 climate talks, which will up on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland, following a G20 leaders conference in Rome. Some G20 countries that have not boosted their aspirations since Paris are expected to do so ahead of COP26.

China announced its climate roadmap on Sunday.

"The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin contains a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators at COP26. At the current rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, we will see a temperature increase by the end of this century far in excess of the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

CO2 levels in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per million in 2015, and they have continued to grow significantly since then.

"Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and in the ocean for even longer. The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was 3-5 million years ago when the temperature was 2-3°C warmer and sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now. But there weren't 7.8 billion people then," Taalas said.

Methane and nitrous oxide levels were also at record highs, with levels 262 percent and 123 percent higher than in 1750, before the industrial revolution started a centuries-long process of human disturbance of the Earth's atmosphere.

"Greenhouse gas measurements are like skidding into a car crash. The disaster gets closer and closer but you can't stop it," Euan Nisbet, from the Greenhouse Gas Group at Royal University, told the Science Media Center.

Director of Edinburgh Climate Change Institute Dave Reay said the success or failure of COP26 would be "written in our skies in the form of greenhouse gas concentrations".

"This new report from the WMO provides a brutally frank assessment of what's been written there to date. So far, it's an epic fail," he said.

"The small window of opportunity to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that meets the Paris Climate Goals is about to vanish."

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) was described as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to consolidate global efforts to combat climate change and commit the world to substantial emissions targets. However, the conference has been shrouded in doubt in recent weeks, with numerous key leaders unable to confirm their presence and mounting cases of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom raising concerns about whether the event can go forward on the scale envisaged.