Planet on Red Alert as Greenhouse Gas Emissions Soar

Greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2022, with concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide all-surpassing pre-industrial levels. This trend shows no signs of slowing down, putting the world on a path to a temperature increase "well above" the Paris Agreement targets, reports the UN.

"Despite decades of warnings from the scientific community, thousands of pages of reports and dozens of climate conferences, we are still heading in the wrong direction," said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas. The current trajectory "puts us on the pathway of an increase in temperatures well above the Paris Agreement targets by the end of this century," he added, referring to global efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that this trajectory will lead to more extreme weather events, ice melt, sea-level rise, and ocean heat and acidification. The socioeconomic and environmental costs will be severe.

To avert this crisis, countries must urgently reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. WMO is also working to improve global monitoring of greenhouse gas concentrations and fluxes to better understand climate change and support mitigation efforts.