- CO2 levels continue to rise, when they need to come down, scientists say.
- The slowdown from the COVID-19 pandemic reduced global carbon emissions slightly in 2020, but they rebounded last year.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is now more than 50% higher than in pre-industrial times – and is at levels not seen for millions of years, when Earth was a planet flooded by the ocean, federal government scientists announced Friday.
“Carbon dioxide is at levels our species has never seen before,” said Pieter Tans, senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Monitoring Laboratory.
Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas releases “greenhouse” gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. The emissions have raised global temperatures to levels that cannot be explained by natural factors, scientists say.
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In the past 20 years alone, the global temperature has risen about two-thirds of a degree Fahrenheit, NOAA said.
According to NOAA, this rise in temperatures has triggered a cascade of weather impacts, including episodes of extreme heat, drought and wildfire activity, as well as heavier rainfall, flooding and tropical storms.
University of Illinois climatologist Donald Wuebbles said that without reducing carbon pollution “we will see increasingly damaging levels of climate change, more heat waves, more floods, more droughts, more big storms and rising sea levels.”
Carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, when they need to come down, scientists say. This year’s carbon dioxide level is almost 1.9 parts per million higher than a year ago, a slightly larger jump than between May 2020 and May 2021.
Before the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels were consistently around 280 ppm for nearly 6,000 years of human civilization, NOAA said. Since then, humans have generated about 1.5 trillion tons of carbon dioxide pollution, much of which will continue to warm the atmosphere for thousands of years.
NOAA said carbon dioxide levels in the air in May last hit a known point when Earth was 7 degrees warmer millions of years ago.
FACT CHECK:Climate change measured in decades, common daily temperature fluctuation
The pandemic slowdown reduced global carbon emissions a bit in 2020, but they rebounded last year.
“It is depressing that we have lacked the collective will to slow the relentless rise in CO2,” said geochemist Ralph Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “Fossil fuel use may not be accelerating any more, but we are still racing full speed ahead towards global catastrophe.
Contribute: The Associated Press