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Climate-heating gases reach record highs
The abundance of climate-heating gases in the atmosphere reached record highs in 2022, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported.
The WMO said “there is no end in sight to the rising trend”, which is largely driven by the burning of fossil fuels. The concentration of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is now 50% higher than before the start of the Industrial Revolution.
The Earth has not experienced similar levels of CO2 for 3-5 million years, when the global temperature was 2-3°C warmer and sea level was 10-20 metres higher than today, the WMO said.
The WMO report found that the heating effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose by 50% between 1990 and 2022, with CO2 accounting for about 80% of this increase.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with the human sources being the fossil fuel industry, cattle and waste dumps. Levels of methane rose again in 2022 and scientists are concerned that a recent acceleration of methane emissions may be driven by the effect of global heating on wetlands, producing a potential feedback effect.
The increase in nitrous oxide levels in 2022 was the highest ever recorded. This greenhouse gas is produced by overuse of fertilisers, crop waste burning and industry.
Source:
The Guardian 15 November 2023 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/15/climate-heating-gase... record-highs-un-reports
WMO, 15 November 2023 https://wmo.int/publication-series/wmo-greenhouse-gas-bulletin-no-19