The warning was issued by the United Nations Meteorological Agency just ahead of the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference. This year the conference (COP29) is being held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
The UN’s top official, Antonio Guterres, has repeatedly drawn attention to the seriousness of the climate crisis and warned of the cost of ignoring this existential threat to humanity.
UN Deputy Secretary General Joe Barrett told reporters in Geneva that the rate at which carbon dioxide (CO2) is accumulating in the atmosphere has never been seen before in human history.
Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are the three main greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.
Carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere for a long time, he said, and so the rise in temperature could continue for many years.
WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows that CO2 levels need to slow down. In 2004, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 3771 parts per million, which will increase to 420 parts per million in 2023. It has grown by 11.4 percent in the last two decades.
A senior WMO official said, it is not limited to statistics. A matter of parts per million increase, every part is a matter of temperature increase. This is important from the point of view of the speed of melting of glaciers and frozen water sheets.
It determines sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification, and the impact on species, ecosystems, and how many people will experience extreme heat in a given year.
According to the United Nations agency, forest fires have played a major role in increasing greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, climate effects of El Niño are expected to result in drier conditions and increased gas concentrations by the end of 2023.
Studies have shown that only 50 percent of the total carbon dioxide emitted is present in the atmosphere. More than 25 percent is absorbed by the oceans and 30 percent remains on land.
As long as emissions continue, greenhouse gases will accumulate in the atmosphere, increasing global temperatures, WMO officials say. He therefore urged world leaders to move towards reducing the use of fossil fuels in the economy to save future generations.