Green light for a global greenhouse gas monitoring network

One hundred and ninety-three countries have unanimously approved the creation of a global mechanism for monitoring greenhouse gases, the World Meteorological Organization announced Wednesday (WMO).

This historic decision comes at a time when concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are at record levels, “higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years,” the UN agency warned.

From Earth and space

The new Global Greenhouse Gas Monitoring mechanism will combine ground-based and space-based observations with modeling to fill critical information gaps. In addition, it will take advantage of the Organization’s experience in coordinating international collaboration for weather forecasting.

The agency claimed that the exchange of data will be “free and without restrictions”in support of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Between 1990 and 2021, the warming effect on our climate from the major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, increased by almost 50%.

“We know from our measurements that greenhouse gas concentrations are at record levels,” said the WMO secretary-general.

Petteri Taalas explained that “the increase in carbon dioxide levels from 2020 to 2021 was higher than the average growth rate of the last decade and methane experienced the largest year-on-year jump since measurements began.”

There is much to learn

“But there are still uncertainties, especially regarding the role that the ocean, terrestrial biosphere and permafrost areas play in the carbon cycle,” Taalas said.

“So we need to track greenhouse gases within an integrated Earth System framework. to be able to account for natural sources and sinksboth as they currently function and as they will change as a result of a changing climate. This will provide vital information and support for the implementation of the Paris Agreement,” he stated.

Lars Peter Riishojgaard, WMO Deputy Director for Infrastructure, said the “meteorological agency’s decision on the generational challenge of climate change mitigation is a historic step.”

“The internationally coordinated global monitoring of greenhouse gases, open to all and operating in accordance with the WMO policy of free and unrestricted data sharing, will provide Parties with the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change valuable, timely and reliable information on greenhouse gas flows, which will help them in their efforts to mitigate climate change,” he added.

Riishojgaard said the new surveillance project has “great support from the scientific community and the private sector.”