Record surge in atmospheric carbon dioxide - UN

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA) - Concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached a record high in 2016, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday.

"Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to the highest level in 800,000 years," the WMO said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

The atmospheric levels of CO2, a greenhouse gas, rose to 403.33 parts per million (ppm), up from 400.00 ppm in 2015, because of El Nino and climate change, the WMO warned.

"Rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases have the potential to initiate unprecedented changes in climate systems, leading to severe ecological and economic disruptions," the report said.

Last year's growth rate was 50 percent higher than the average of the past 10 years.

"Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said.

"The rate of increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 70 years is nearly 100 times larger than that at the end of the last ice age.

“As far as direct and proxy observations can tell, such abrupt changes in the atmospheric levels of CO2 have never before been seen," the WMO said.

According to WMO research, geological records show current levels of CO2 correspond to levels seen 3–5 million years ago when the climate was 2-3 degrees warmer and when the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melted leading to sea levels 10-20 meters higher than at present.