“We have to act now to slash greenhouse gas emissions if we are to have a chance to keep the increase in temperatures to manageable levels”, he added.
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A new bulletin from the World Meteorological Organization reports that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high in 2014 that could become a ‘permanent reality’.
Figures compiled by the World Meteorological Organization showed strong growth – and new records – in the concentrations of all three of the most important heat-trapping gases, continuing a long-term trend with ominous implications for climate change, the group said.
It stated that between 1990 and 2014 there was a 36 per cent increase in radiative forcing – the warming effect on our climate – because of long-lived greenhouse gases such as CO2, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities.
In the Northern hemisphere, levels rose above the 400ppm level during Spring 2014. Scientists say that the “safe” level of Carbon dioxide to avoid risky global warming is more like 350ppm.
“This means we are now really in uncharted territory for the human race”, he warned.
Concentrations of Carbon dioxide stood at a global annual average of 397.7ppm in 2014, up from about 278ppm in 1750, and the United Nations said the global annual average is likely to pass the symbolic 400ppm milestone in 2016.
“We can’t see (carbon dioxide)”.
The long-term implications for the planet, he said, include “hotter global temperatures and more extreme weather events” as well as melting ice, rising sea levels and increased acidity in oceans. In 2015, the global average concentration of carbon dioxide crossed the 400 ppm barrier.
Jarraud says that 400 ppm will soon become a permanent reality. But two other key greenhouse gases – methane and nitrous oxide – appear to be increasing at a fast rate, the report said.
“It’s frightening… This is a cumulative process”, Jarraud said, stressing that “the laws of physics are non-negotiable”.
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Jarraud is now urging nations to take immediate action to cut down greenhouse gas emissions where in a few weeks, negotiators from more than 190 nations will meet in Paris to form a new agreement of a UN climate deal.
