Researchfrom the Earth Sciences Research Laboratory (ESRL) has confirmed the biggest ever annual increase in carbon dioxide levels.
Between February 2015 and 2016, carbon dioxide levels rose by 3.76 ppm to over 404 ppm, beating the previous annual record rise of 3.70ppm in 1997-1998. 2015 was also the warmest year on record -- 0.75 ±0.1°C above the long-term average.
The figures were measured at Mauna Loa, where ESRL have a global monitoring observatory. The observatory has been collecting data related to atmospheric change since the 1950s.
Carbon dioxide has also risen the largest amount for any calendar year, increasing by 3.09ppm in all of 2015 -- 0.27ppm more than the rise in 1998. In May 2015 carbon dioxide levels reached a monthly record high, with global concentration reaching 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since records began.
Speaking in 2015, James Butler, head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said it would be hard to reverse increasing levels of CO2. "Elimination of about 80 percent of fossil fuel emissions would essentially stop the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," he said.
It's not all bad news, though -- another study, from the London School of Economics, found that China's carbon dioxide emissions are falling.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
