Atmospheric gas levels up

– The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the United Nations (UN) said yesterday, warning that the time to act was running out.

“Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth,” the head of the World Meteorological Organisation Petteri Taalas said yesterday.

“The window of opportunity for action is almost closed.”

The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the UN weather agency’s annual flagship report, tracks the content of dangerous gases in the atmosphere in the post-industrial era (since 1750).

This year’s report, which covers data for 2017, puts the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at 405.5 parts per million (ppm).

That is up from 403.3 ppm in 2016 and 400.1 ppm in 2015. –

Geneva