UN warns carbon cuts fall ‘miles short’ of what is needed to avoid devastating global warming

Greenhouse gas levels surged to record highs in 2023, committing the planet to rising temperatures for years to come, the UN’s weather monitoring body said on Monday.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO’s) greenhouse gas bulletin, carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than at any time during human existence. Concentrations have risen by 11.4 per cent in just two decades.

The increase in CO2 in the atmosphere in 2023 was higher than that seen in 2022 though lower than the three years before that. It was the second-largest annual rise of the last decade. Large forest fires and a possible reduction in the carbon absorbed by forests combined with stubbornly high CO2 emissions from human activity fueled the increase.

The WMO says globally averaged surface concentrations of the greenhouse gasses CO2, methane and nitrous oxide all increased in 2023. CO2 concentrations reached 151 per cent of pre-industrial levels, methane 265 per cent and nitrous oxide 125 per cent.

The news comes ahead of the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan next month. WMO secretary-general Celest Saulo says it should “set alarm bells ringing” for decision-makers.

“We are clearly off track to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and aiming for 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

“These are more than just statistics. Every part per million and every fraction of a degree temperature increase has a real impact on our lives and our planet.”

On Monday, the UN also published a separate report taking stock of countries’ current nationally determined contributions or NDCs.

It found that national policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions fall significantly short of what is needed to limit c