The world weather organization (WMO) leaves no doubt in its "Greenhouse Gas Bulletin" published today that the increase in three most important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has adopted. All three gases, which significantly drive the heating of the planet, not only achieved record values in 2020, but also recorded above -average growth.
The globally averaged CO2 concentrations climbed to a new high of 413.2 parts per million (ppm). Due to the corona pandemic, the CO2 increase from 2019 to 2020 was slightly lower than from 2018 to 2019. But it also exceeded the average annual growth rate of the last ten years.
Methane - also a potent greenhouse gas - also reached a maximum of 2020. The WMO specifies its average concentration with 1889 parts per billion (ppb). That is more than two and a half times the concentration of 1750.
The average concentration of laughing gas in 2020 gives the organization with 333.2 ppb: this too is an increase of 1.2 PPB compared to the previous year. On average of the past ten years, the laughing gas concentration has only increased by 0.99 ppb per year. Lachgas, which is released by human activity, comes from the burning of biomass and the use of fertilizers.
There is about one and a half times as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as in pre-industrial times (149 percent). "Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and even longer in the ocean. The last time the Earth had a comparable concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago, when the temperature was two to three degrees Celsius warmer and sea levels were 10 to 20 meters higher than today. But at that time there were not yet 7.8 billion people," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas in a statement from his organization.
