GENEVA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The UN climate and environment agencies urged on Monday to redouble efforts on new low-carbon technologies with global political will and a new sense of urgency, as concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had surged in 2016 to the highest level.
Due to a combination of human activities and a strong El Nino event, global averaged concentrations of CO2 reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400 ppm in 2015. It's now 145 percent of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels, according to World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
Rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases have the potential to initiate unprecedented changes in climate systems, leading to "severe ecological and economic disruptions," the bulletin warns.
Since 1990, there has been a 40-percent increase in the warming effect on our climate by all long-lived greenhouse gases, and a 2.5-percent increase from 2015 to 2016 alone, according to the bulletin.
Population growth, intensified agricultural practices, increases in land use and deforestation, industrialization and associated energy use from fossil fuel sources have all contributed to increases in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the industrial era beginning in 1750.
"CO2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans for even longer. The laws of physics mean that we face a much hotter, more extreme climate in the future. There is currently no magic wand to remove this CO2 from the atmosphere," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
"Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement," he added.
Besides CO2 which is by far the most important anthropogenic long-lived greenhouse gas, the bulletin also warns about methane, which has reached a new high of about 1,853 parts per billion in 2016 and is now 257 percent of the pre-industrial level.
Meanwhile, the atmospheric concentration of nitrous oxide in 2016 was 328.9 parts per billion, almost 122 percent of pre-industrial levels. Nitrous Oxide also plays an important role in the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.
"The numbers don't lie. We are still emitting far too much and this needs to be reversed," said Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Program.
He urges to redouble the current efforts to ensure the new low-carbon technologies, including renewable energy, are able to thrive. "We have many of the solutions already to address this challenge. What we need now is global political will and a new sense of urgency."
