Greenhouse gas levels record high, raising climate tipping point worries

Heat trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations reached a new record last year and continued to increase in 2023, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Wednesday.

- Jayashree Nandi

Global averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most important greenhouse gas, in 2022 were a full 50% above the pre-industrial era for the first time, WMO's greenhouse gas bulletin released on Wednesday said.

It added that the rate of growth in CO2 concentrations was slightly lower than in 2021 and the average for the decade. But that was most likely due to natural, short-term variations in the carbon cycle but new emissions as a result of industrial activities continued to rise.

The (NOAA) Annual Greenhouse Gas Index shows that from 1990 to 2022, the warming effect on our climate called radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 49%, with CO2 accounting for about 78% of this increase, WMO said.

The global mean CO2 concentration in 2022 was 417.9 ppm compared to 415.7 ppm in 2021.