There are no signs that the increase in greenhouse gases will ease in 2023

April 8 () –

Global levels of the three most important human-caused greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide) continued to increase steadily during 2023,

According to NOAA scientists, while the increase in three heat-trapping gases recorded in air samples collected by NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) in 2023 It was not as high as the record jumps observed in recent years, They were in line with the strong increases observed during the last decade.

The global surface concentration of CO2, averaged over the 12 months of 2023, was 419.3 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 2.8 ppm over the year. This was the 12th consecutive year that CO2 increased by more than 2 ppm, extending the highest sustained rate of CO2 increases over the 65 years of monitoring record. Three consecutive years of CO2 growth of 2 ppm or more had not been seen in NOAA monitoring records before 2014. Atmospheric CO2 is now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels.

“The 2023 increase is the third largest in the last decade, likely as a result of a continued increase in CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, along with an increase in fire emissions possibly as a result of the La Niña transition to El Niño,” he said it's a statement Xin Lan, a CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) scientist who is leading GML's effort to synthesize data from NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network to track global greenhouse gas trends .

Atmospheric methane less abundant than CO2 but more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere, increases to an average of 1922.6 parts per billion (ppb). The increase in methane in 2023 compared to 2022 was 10.9 ppb, lower than the record growth rates observed in 2020 (15.2 ppb), 2021 (18 ppb) and 2022 (13.2 ppb), but still being the fifth highest since the renewed growth of methane began in 2007 in the atmosphere They are now more than 160% higher than their pre-industrial level.

In 2023, levels of nitrous oxide, the third most important human-caused greenhouse gas, increased 1 ppb to 336.7 ppb. The two years of greatest growth since 2000 occurred in 2020 (1.3 ppb) and 2021 (1.3 ppb). Increases in atmospheric nitrous oxide over the past few decades are primarily due to the use of nitrogen fertilizers and manure from the expansion and intensification of agriculture. Nitrous oxide concentrations are 25% higher than the pre-industrial level of 270 ppb.