Globally, carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2012, said Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
The atmospheric increase of carbon dioxide from 2011 to 2012 was higher than its average growth rate over the past 10 years.
Carbon dioxide pollution level in the atmosphere was measured at 393.1 parts per million (ppm) last year, up 2.2 ppm from the previous year, the U.N weather agency said. Experts say this figure is far beyond the 350 ppm that some scientists and environmental groups promote as the absolute upper limit for a safe level.
The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin also shows that between 1990 and 2012, there was a 32 percent increase in radiative forcing – the warming effect on the climate – because of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping long-lived gases such as methane and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide accounted for 80 percent of this increase, WMO said.
Carbon dioxide’s 2012 increase outpaced the past decade’s average annual increase of 2.02 ppm. Continuing at this rate, the world’s carbon dioxide pollution level is expected to cross the 400 ppm threshold by 2016, according to the agency. That level already was reached at some individual measurement stations in 2012 and 2013.
This level of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas– in the atmosphere was probably reported at least a few million years ago when the sea levels were higher, say scientists. The level of carbon dioxide was around 280 ppm before the Industrial Revolution.
Higher levels of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas, will cause sea levels to rise, glaciers to melt and some weather patterns to change.
Methane, another destructive greenhouse gas, traps heat much more effectively but has shorter life span. Atmospheric methane also reached a new high of 1,819 parts per billion in 2012, which is 260 percent higher than the pre-industrial level.
The Emissions Gap Report 2013, involving 44 scientific groups coordinated by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), urges wide-ranging global action to close the emissions gap.
“As the report highlights, delayed actions mean a higher rate of climate change in the near term and likely more near-term climate impacts, as well as the continued use of carbon-intensive and energy-intensive infrastructure,” said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner.
“However,” Steiner added, “the stepping stone of the 2020 target can still be achieved by strengthening current pledges and by further action, including scaling up international cooperation initiatives in areas such as energy efficiency, fossil fuel subsidy reform and renewable energy.”