Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Now Reaches 50% Higher Than the Start of Industrial Revolution

Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and NOAA announced that the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels measured by Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory revealed that carbon dioxide levels peaked in May for this year with an average of 419 parts per million (ppm).

This is the highest level since accurate measures of atmospheric carbon dioxide began 63 years ago when the industrial revolution was still starting, and the burning of fossil fuels was commonly practiced.

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Reached New Milestone

NOAA's measurement of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is about 1.82 parts per million higher than it was last May 2020, which was 417 parts per million. Alarmingly, it is also 50% higher than the stable pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million, according to Pieter Tans of NOAA.

Tans noted that carbon dioxide is by far the most abundant greenhouse gas made by humans that continues to persist in the atmosphere and oceans for many millennia after it was emitted.

"We are adding roughly 40 billion metric tons of CO₂ pollution to the atmosphere per year," said Tans in NOAA's news release. "That is a mountain of carbon that we dig up out of the Earth, burn, and release into the atmosphere as CO₂ - year after year. If we want to avoid catastrophic climate change, the highest priority must be to reduce CO2 pollution to zero at the earliest possible date."

Moreover, the 1.8 ppm increase from last year is still considered lesser compared to the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide from the last five months. Carbon dioxide measurements at Mauna Loa from January to May 2021 showed a 2.3 ppm increase compared to the same period in 2020. That is nearly the average carbon dioxide levels from 2010 to 2019.

However, NOAA noted that the data did not include the effects of global disruption brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

Higher Carbon Dioxide Means Worse Climate Change Outcomes

Climate change does not only increase global temperatures but also brings extreme weather conditions, such as storms, wildfires, floods, and droughts. Studies show that climate change will bring in more frequent disasters and a continuous increase in ocean levels.

Moreover, it could also bring adverse effects on public health via heat deaths and increased pollen, PBS reported. In 2015, countries signed the Paris agreement to try keeping climate change below the dangerous levels.

Despite the pandemic that slowed down people's movement and industries as well, it seemed was not enough to keep carbon dioxide levels at bay. The news outlet reported that carbon dioxide could stay in the atmosphere for 1,000 years, so a year-to-year change in emission may not register much change to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University, said that the world is approaching the point where the planet has exceeded the level of emissions set in the Paris agreement. That means the world might be entering a climate danger zone.

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