CO2 levels on earth are at highest ever

PARIS: Scientists in the United States have detected the highest levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere since records began, sounding new alarm over the relentless rise of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, which has tracked atmospheric CO2 levels since the late 1950s, on Saturday detected 415.26 parts per million (ppm). It was also the first time on record that the observatory measured a daily baseline above 415 ppm. The last time Earth’s atmosphere contained this much CO2 was more than three million years ago, when global sea levels were several metres higher and parts of Antarctica had forests.

“It shows that we are not on track with protecting the climate at all. The number keeps rising and it’s getting higher year after year,” Wolfgang Lucht, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), told AFP.

“This number needs to stabilise.” But far from stabilising, levels of CO2 -- one of a trinity of greenhouse gases produced when fossil fuels are burnt -- are climbing ever more rapidly.

Ralph Keeling, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s CO2 Programme, said the trend would probably continue throughout 2019 -- likely to be an El Nino year in which temperatures rise due to warmer ocean currents.

“The average growth rate is remaining on the high end. The increase from last year will probably be around three parts per million whereas the recent average has been 2.5 ppm,” he said.

“Likely we’re seeing the effect of mild El Nino conditions on top of ongoing fossil fuel use.” The 2015 Paris Agreement calls on humanity to block the rise in Earth’s temperature at “well below” 2 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels, and 1.5C if possible. The last four years were the four hottest on record and mankind continues to break its own emissions records, year on year.