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Record high concentration of greenhouse gas will lead to further temperature increase: WMO

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high last year and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels were a full 50 per cent above the pre-industrial era for the first time last year, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday.

There is “no end in sight” to the rising trend, WMO chief Petteri Taalas said at the launch of the agency’s annual greenhouse gas bulletin report.

“We have again broken less comfortable records in main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide,” said Professor Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General at the report launch in Geneva. “Now we have 150 per cent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than we had during the pre-industrial times.”

This will mean further temperature increases and more heatwaves, extreme rainfall, glacier melt and sea-level rise, with disastrous consequences for people and planet, WMO said.

“The warming impact of those gases, and you can see that the carbon dioxide is responsible for two-thirds of the warming methane with less than 20 per cent, nitrous oxide, six per cent. They are all together responsible for 11 per cent of the warming potential,” said Professor Taalas.

The UN agency said earlier this month that 2023 will almost certainly be the hottest year on record.

“It looks like we will we reach the all-time high because we have just switched from La Niña to the El Niño year, and besides the normal high temperatures in Pacific, we have also seen very high temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, which is unusual,” informed WMO’s Secretary-General.

Given the long lifetime of CO2, WMO warned that the temperature level already observed “will persist for several decades even if emissions are rapidly reduced to net zero”.

“The lifetime of these gases is so long that they are distributed equally worldwide. So, what is emitted in China doesn't stay in China, but it's seen in some months it's equally distributed worldwide,” said Professor Taalas.

Climate change impacts include more extreme weather and sea level rise, the WMO top official continued.

“Climate change is not only a temperature issue, but it's a wider change in our behavior of atmosphere and we have already seen practically the whole planet has seen an increase of heatwaves”, he said. “About half of the planet has been facing an increase of flooding events and one third of the planet has been facing an increase of drought events and these negative trends will continue until 2060.”

WMO reiterated calls to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and Professor Taalas said that he was encouraged by the rise in the use of renewable energy worldwide.

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WMO - Press Conference - 15 November 2023

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