World News: ‘Time is running out’ – Gulf Digital News

World News: ‘Time is running out’ – Gulf Digital News

Greenhouse gas concentrations climbed at above-average rates to new records last year, the UN weather agency has said, warning that time is running out for people to make the transformational changes needed to cap global temperature rises.

The annual report by the World Meteorological Organisation is the first of several released ahead of a UN climate summit next month in Egypt and aims to spur leaders into action.

Rises in the atmospheric concentration of all three greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – outstripped the average increase over the past decade, it showed, meaning they are now all at new record levels.

Concentrations of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide rose by 2.5 parts per million to 415.7 – a level not seen since at least three million years ago when the Earth was much warmer. The jump in the potent, heat-trapping gas methane was the highest since records began in 1983, the report said. Methane is the number 2 gas contributing to warming after carbon dioxide.

“The continuing rise in concentrations of the main heat-trapping gases, including the record acceleration in methane levels, shows that we are heading in the wrong direction,” said WMO.