Greenhouse gas milestone ‘shows need for action’

OSLO/GENEVA: Greenhouse gases last year rose to a symbolic milestone, taking climate change into a new phase which could last generations even if governments act to curb man-made global warming, the UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said yesterday.

Globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main man-made greenhouse gas, reached 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere for the first time on record and were 44percent above levels before the Industrial Revolution, it said.

The relentless rise contrasts with accords by almost 200 governments to start reining in emissions, led by the Paris Agreement last year to phase out fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy in the second half of the century.

“The year 2015 ushered in a new era of optimism... with the Paris climate change agreement. But it will also make history as marking a new era of climate change reality with record high greenhouse gas concentrations,” WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said. “The issue going from this kind of political will to concrete action. So far we haven’t seen a major change in behaviour.”

An observatory at Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the main measuring station with records back to 1958, “predicts that carbon dioxide concentrations will stay above 400ppm for the whole of 2016 and not dip below that level for many generations”, the WMO said.

Carbon dioxide levels will continue rising unless the world stops burning fossil fuels and starts planting trees, said the WMO. – Reuters