‘No end in sight’ to rising GHG emissions: WMO

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UNITED NATIONS: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that Greenhouse Gas (GHG) levels in the atmosphere have hit an all-time high and show no signs of slowing down. The ‘no end in sight’ to rising GHG emissions bulletin comes ahead of the annual UN climate conference COP28, which is scheduled to take place in Dubai.

Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, WMO, stated, “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.”

Taalas further added that the higher concentrations of greenhouse gases would be accompanied by increased frequency of extreme weather events, including intense heat and rainfall, ice melt, higher sea levels, as well as ocean heat and acidification.“We must reduce the consumption of fossil fuels as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Methane concentration in the atmosphere has also increased, and the level of nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas, saw the highest year-on-year increase on record between 2021 and 2022, WMO stated. Adding to that, the weather agency said that in 2022, global average concentrations of carbon dioxide were 50 per cent above the pre-industrial era for the first time.

A separate UN report mentioned that governments are making insufficient progress in slashing greenhouse gas emissions to avert the worst impacts of global warming.

“The current level of greenhouse gas concentrations puts us on the pathway of an increase in temperatures well above the Paris Agreement targets by the end of this century,” said Taalas.