GENEVA (Reuters) – The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record level last year and this upward trend “is not about to be reversed”, the Organization said on Wednesday World Meteorological Agency (WMO).
The warning comes weeks before world leaders gather in Dubai for the annual climate conference (COP28), where governments will seek to step up climate action, including by considering phasing out fossil fuels before 2050.
In 2022, global average concentrations of carbon dioxide were for the first time 50% higher than in the pre-industrial era, according to the UN meteorological agency.
“Despite decades of warnings from the scientific community, the publication of thousands of pages of reports and the holding of dozens of climate conferences, we continue to move in the wrong direction,” said the Secretary-General. of WMO, Petteri Taalas.
According to Petteri Taalas, higher concentrations of greenhouse gases would be accompanied by an increase in extreme weather phenomena: intense heat and heavy precipitation, melting ice, rising sea levels and warming and acidification of the oceans.
“There is an urgent need to reduce fossil fuel consumption,” he said.
Concentrations of methane in the atmosphere have also increased and levels of nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas, saw the largest annual increase on record between 2021 and 2022, the WMO says.
Greenhouse gases are responsible for global warming and triggering extreme weather events. Unlike emissions that can be reduced, much of the carbon dioxide emitted decades ago remains in the atmosphere and activates slow processes such as sea level rise.
Another UN report released Tuesday indicates that governments are not making enough progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst consequences of global warming.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; French version Lina Golovnya, editing by Kate Entringer)
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