Carbon dioxide levels averaged 397.7 ppm in 2014 but briefly breached the 400 ppm barrier in the northern hemisphere in early 2014, and again globally in early 2015.
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“Every year we report a new record in greenhouse gas concentrations”, said Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General, in a news release.
Another greenhouse emission record has been set, as greenhouse gas emission levels in the Earth’s atmosphere reached a record high in 2014 according to the World Meteorological Organization. “This means we are now really in uncharted territory for the human race”.
Pushed by the burning of coal, oil and gas for energy, global Carbon dioxide levels are now 143 per cent higher than before the industrial revolution.
Later this month in Paris, world leaders including President Obama will gather for a round of talks aimed at securing a plan to force a reduction in greenhouse gas emission’s from the planet’s worst polluters.
China and the United States emit more greenhouse gas than any other nation on the planet, Agence France Presse added. The Obama administration has pledged to reduce US emissions by up to 28 percent by the year 2030, compared with the baseline year of 2005.
The WMO report also comes on the same day as a new paper from the Climate Central group of scientists, which warns 4C of warming this century could lock in sea level rises that could submerge land now home to 470 million to 760 million people. Past, present and future emissions will have a cumulative impact on both global warming and ocean acidification.
“Two degrees will be bad enough but it will be better than three degrees”, said Jarraud.
“We can’t see CO2”.
Rising greenhouse gas concentrations have always been theorized as a main cause of global warming, yet skeptics have noted Earth’s temperature has risen at a slower pace since 1998 — arguing global warming has “paused”. Higher temperatures lead to more atmospheric water vapour, which in turn traps even more heat.
The WMO report, an annual compilation of monitoring data from the organization’s Global Atmospheric Watch program, shows carbon dioxide concentrations rising by 0.5 percent from 2013 to 2014, roughly on par with the average annual increase over the past decade.
“This year marks an important first but that doesn’t necessarily mean every year from now on will be a degree or more above pre-industrial levels, as natural variability will still play a role in determining the temperature in any given year”, said Peter Stott, head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution at the Met Office. About a quarter of the total emissions is taken up by the oceans and another quarter by the biosphere, reducing in this way the amount of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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A still from a NASA animation showing how carbon dioxide moves around the planet.
