This is what emerges from Annual Report The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Greenhouse Gases, published on Wednesday. The data is a compilation of measurements collected by more than 100 weather stations around the world.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) continues to be the champion, with an increase of 2.5 parts per million in 2021, for a total of 415. The World Meteorological Organization credits it with responsibility for two-thirds of the global warming that has occurred in the past two and a half centuries. It is followed by methane with 16% and nitrous oxide with 7%. However, it was methane that won the prize for the biggest increase in 40 years as its concentration in the atmosphere (18 parts per million more, for a total of 1908) was measured.
The reasons for the rise in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide have been clear and well-studied for a long time. On the other hand, the reasons for rising methane gas, Less. Sure, raising livestock and producing oil and gas produces a lot of methane, but that’s not enough to explain this rapid increase since at least 2007. Doubts lie with natural sources – eg, wetlands such as peatlands – that ecosystems will be negatively affected by rising temperatures or changing precipitation. But the process still needs to be clarified, the World Meteorological Organization notes in its report.
One thing is for sure, this report arrives in the same week analysis From the United Nations body that oversees the annual climate conference (the Framework Convention on Climate Change, or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) warns that most countries are a long way from achieving the greenhouse gas reduction targets they have set for themselves to avoid a catastrophic warming of more than two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times. If the trend continues, the path will rather be a 3 degree increase.
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