Greenhouse gases hit record high in 2022, with no end in sight: UN

Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere hit new record highs in 2022, with no end in sight to the rising trend, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

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The UN's World Meteorological Organization said levels of the three main greenhouse gases the climate-warming carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide-all broke records last year.

Such levels of heat-trapping gases will mean further temperature increases, more extreme weather and higher sea levels, the WMO said in its 19th annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

"Despite decades of warnings from the scientific community, thousands of pages of reports and dozens of climate conferences, we are still heading in the wrong direction," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas.

The bulletin comes ahead of the 30 November-12 December COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai.

The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to cap global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius above average levels measured between 1850 and 1900-and 1.5C if possible.