14 DAY TRIAL // In their latest report, scientists from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have reached a new record high last year, averaging 393.1 parts per million (ppm) in the air. Throughout 2012, global CO2 emissions continued to rise despite uncoordinated efforts to curb them.
The group behind the report also revealed that carbon concentrations rose higher last year than the average for the entire decade. This suggests that efforts to decrease emissions are failing to clean the atmosphere, and that climate change is more likely to develop rapidly than ever before.
Globally, emissions continue to soar, despite the United Nations-mediated international climate talks that take place every year, and which aim to create a new agreement to replace the successful, but expired Kyoto Protocol, signed in Japan in 1997.
As a result of this high concentration of atmospheric carbon, Earth's climate is changing faster than before, weather patterns have become more extreme, glaciers and ice sheets are retreating or melting, and sea levels continuously increase, said Michael Jarraud, the WMO Secretary-General.
The data in the annual report “highlight yet again how heat-trapping gases from human activities have upset the natural balance of our atmosphere and are a major contribution to climate change,” the official said in a statement.
On average, last decade saw a yearly increase of 2.02 ppm in atmospheric carbon concentrations. Last year, WMO scientists calculated an increase rate of 2.2 ppm when compared to levels recorded in 2011. In order to avoid the harshest impacts of global warming, carbon has to account for a maximum of 350 ppm of the atmosphere.
Studies have already determined that pre-Industrial Age levels of atmospheric carbon revolved around the value of 278 ppm. Last year, experts recorded more than 400 ppm for the first time, but the new report provides an average estimate of the entire atmosphere, not the maximum recorded value.
In addition to CO2, methane also reached a new record-high level of 1,819 parts per billion (ppb), while nitrous oxide concentrations average 325.1 ppb. These elements are significantly more potent than carbon dioxide, and contribute more to global warming.
“Limiting climate change will require large and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. We need to act now, otherwise we will jeopardize the future of our children, grandchildren and many future generations,” Jarraud concluded, quoted by MongaBay.