The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, recently.

Key Facts

• As per Bulletin, abundance of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record again in the year 2020.
• Annual rate of increase was above the 2011-2020 average.
• Report notes that, the trend has continued in 2021.
• Concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) increased to 413.2 parts per million in 2020. It accounted for 149% of the pre-industrial level.
• Methane (CH₄) accounted for 262% and nitrous oxide (N₂O) accounted for 123% of 1750 levels, when human activities started disrupting the natural equilibrium of Earth
• Report notes that, economic slowdown due to COVID-19 did not have any impact on the levels of greenhouse gases and their growth rates. However, there was a temporary decline in new emissions.
• In between 1990-2020, radiative forcing by greenhouse gases increased by 47%, in which CO₂ accounted for 80% of this increase.

Global temperature will continue to rise as long as emissions continue. As CO2 has a long life, current temperature level will persist for several decades even if emissions rapidly reduced to net zero. Presently, half of the CO2 emitted by human activities remains in the atmosphere while other half is taken up by land and oceans ecosystems.

WMO is a specialized agency of United Nations which is responsible for promoting international cooperation on climatology, hydrology, atmospheric science, and geophysics. It originated from International Meteorological Organization, which is a nongovernmental organization founded in 1873.