The planet has reached a new carbon dioxide record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which is sounding the alarm.
2015, a record year for pollution. Never before has the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) been so high for so long and on such a vast scale, according to a study by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), published on Monday.
Thus, the average CO2 content of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, crossed a new threshold in 2015. “The bar of 400 ppm (parts per million) had already been reached before by CO2, in some places and during certain months of the year, but never yet on a global scale and for an entire year, ”adds the WMO in its annual bulletin on greenhouse gases.
“Wrong direction”
For this UN agency, CO2 is “the number one problem” because it remains “for thousands of years in the atmosphere and even longer in the oceans”. For the Secretary General of the WMO, the Finn Petteri Taalas, the fight against climate change requires the fight against C02 ”. However, currently, “the world is moving in the wrong direction”, he believes. THE
The basic problem is “political will”, because there are solutions to reduce emissions and “we can act”. He cites the example of Germany, where renewable energies are breaking production records.
In 2015, CO2 emissions recorded a peak due, in particular, to the El Niño climate phenomenon, which occurs every four to five years and which has a global warming effect.
Upward trend
This upward trend will continue in 2016, estimates the WMO, based on information from the oldest greenhouse gas monitoring station, located in Mauna Loa, Hawaii.
According to this station, CO2 concentrations “would remain above 400 ppm for the whole of 2016 and would not fall below this threshold for many generations to come”.
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