The full-year averaged concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere was for the first time above 400 parts per million in 2015, the World Meteorological Organization said Monday. Levels have spiked even further for 2016 due to a particularly strong El Niño system, according to a WMO press release.
“CO2 levels had previously reached the 400 ppm barrier for certain months of the year and in certain locations but never before on a global average basis for the entire year,” the release says. “The longest-established greenhouse gas monitoring station at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, predicts that CO2 concentrations will stay above 400 ppm for the whole of 2016 and not dip below that level for many generations.”
Globally averaged levels of Co2 were 144 percent those of pre-industrial amounts, the organization said, pointing directly to burning of fossil fuels and other human activity.
WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas noted that 2015 brought good news in the form of the imminent entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down use of hydrofluorocarbons.
“But the real elephant in the room is carbon dioxide, which remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years and in the oceans for even longer,” Taalas aid. “Without tackling CO2 emissions, we can not tackle climate change and keep temperature increases to below 2°C above the pre-industrial era. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the Paris Agreement does indeed enter into force well ahead of schedule on 4 November and that we fast-track its implementation.” he said.”
Details of the WMO findings on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can be found in its newly released Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.