The greenhouse gas levels of the Earth are 41% higher than in 1990

Greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere reached an unprecedented record since sea level was 33 to 66 feet higher than today, announced the US. World Meteorological Organization in a report.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have increased by 41% over 1990, leading to a long-term rise in global temperature, the United Nations said in its annual assessment of trend.

The results add to the pressure exerted on the emissaries of nearly 200 countries gathered next month in Poland to discuss ways of controlling climate change. The WMO said the higher CO2 concentrations were melting the ice caps and leading to more severe weather events, which, according to the Bank of England, would be responsible for record losses of $ 140 billion. in 2017.

"The science is clear," said WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas on Thursday. "Without rapid reduction of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have more and more destructive and irreversible effects on life on Earth. The window of opportunity for the action is almost closed. "

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increased by 0.5% from 2016. Among the increasing emissions, there was a resurgence of CFC-11, a supposedly regulated greenhouse gas that depletes the ozone.

The last time the Earth had a similar concentration of CO2, it was 3 to 5 million years ago, when the temperature was 2 to 3 degrees Celsius warmer and the sea level was drier. at least 10 meters higher. A rise in sea level of this magnitude would erase the low island nations and much of Manhattan.

The US goal is to keep the average increase in global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which would still represent the fastest change in climate since the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. A report released earlier this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that net emissions must reach zero by 2050 to maintain the temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is the highest level in the world. Purpose of many developing countries.

Carbon dioxide "stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans even longer," said WMO Deputy Secretary General Elena Manaenkova in a report presented Thursday. at the United Nations. "Every fraction of global warming is important, as is every part of a million greenhouse gases."

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