World is "way off track" as greenhouse gases increases

Greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere has again reached a new record in 2020, with the annual rate of increase above the 2011-2020 average, said the UN weather organisation the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

WMO said in a statement that the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most important greenhouse gas, reached 413.2 parts per million in 2020 and is 149 percent of the pre-industrial level. Methane (CH4) is 262 percent and nitrous oxide (N2O)  is 123 percent of the levels in 1750.

The organisation also said that the economic slowdown from COVID-19 did not have any “discernible impact” on the atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and their “growth rate”.

“We are way off track,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas in the statement.

“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,” he said.

“The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere breached the milestone of 400 parts per million in 2015. And just five years later, it exceeded 413 ppm. This is more than just a chemical formula and figures on a graph. It has major negative repercussions for our daily lives and well-being, for the state of our planet and for the future of our children and grandchildren,” he added.

CO2 accounts for approximately 66 percent of the warming effect on the climate, mainly because of fossil fuel combustion and cement production.

The globally averaged concentrations for CO2 reached a new high of 413.2 ppm in 2020; however, this increase in CO2 from 2019 to 2020 was slightly smaller than 2018 to 2019, the agency said.