Researchers monitoring the Earth's atmosphere have reported a record-breaking surge in carbon dioxide levels, marking a significant milestone in global warming. According to their findings, the global average concentration of carbon dioxide in March this year was 4.7 parts per million (ppm) higher than in March last year, setting a new record for the fastest increase in CO2 levels over a 12-month period.
This increase is believed to be driven by the recent El Niño climate event, which has now subsided, as well as ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases from activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation.
Ralph Keeling, director of the CO2 Program at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, highlighted the importance of this surge, stating, “It’s really significant to see the pace of the increase over the first four months of this year, which is also a record. We aren’t just breaking records in CO2 concentrations, but also the record in how fast it is rising.”
Measurements of global CO2 levels have been taken at the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii since 1958, under the supervision of Keeling's father, Charles Keeling. The concentration of CO2 has increased steadily each year due to emissions from power plants, vehicles, and other sources. In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a global CO2 concentration of 421ppm, a 50% increase from pre-industrial levels and the highest in millions of years. The most recent reading from Mauna Loa shows levels around 426ppm.
Before the significant increase in CO2 emissions from human activities, CO2 levels remained around 280ppm for nearly 6,000 years. The rapid rise in CO2 levels poses a serious threat, leading to extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. Recent studies suggest that CO2 levels were last this high around 14 million years ago, resulting in a climate that would be unfamiliar to modern humans.
While the rate of CO2 increase is expected to decrease following the end of the recent El Niño event, Keeling warns that the levels are still rising. "The rate of rise will almost certainly come down, but it is still rising and in order to stabilize the climate, you need CO2 level to be falling,” he said. “Clearly, that isn’t happening. Human activity has caused CO2 to rocket upwards. It makes me sad more than anything. It’s sad what we are doing."