ExxonMobil oil refinery in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo : Flickr)
Another greenhouse emission record has been set, as greenhouse gas emission levels in the Earth's atmosphere reached a record high in 2014 according to the World Meteorological Organization.
According to WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud, each year we always say that time is running out and it is now high time to slash greenhouse gas emissions in order to have the slightest chance to curb temperatures from rising into manageable levels.
The United Nations agency utilized data sets explaining carbon emission levels such as carbon dioxide which is considered to be the major greenhouse gas, is apparently now rising to 400 parts per million, hitting new records every years since 1984.
In 2014, these carbon dioxide levels reached an average of 397.7 ppm however, eventually surpassed the 400 ppm estimate in the northern hemisphere of the planet earlier that year and now, spreading throughout the world beginning in early 2015.
Jarraud says that 400 ppm will soon become a permanent reality. He says that this breach of levels can mean hotter global temperatures and more extreme weather events such as floods and heatwaves, including faster melting ice leading to rising sea levels and increasing ocean acidity, harming marine ecosystems.
The WMO also adds that this rise in carbon dioxide levels is now being amplified and triggered with higher levels of water vapor that are rising in the atmosphere due to higher carbon dioxide emissions.
Apart from carbon dioxide, man made emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide are now rising with an annual rise in 2014, that reached 1833 parts per billion and 327.1 parts per billion respectively which both have been on the rise at the fastest rate in a decade.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are estimated to be in their highest levels in the last 800,000 years, according to UN climate scientists.
Jarraud is now urging nations to take immediate action to cut down greenhouse gas emissions where in a few weeks, negotiators from more than 190 nations will meet in Paris to form a new agreement of a UN climate deal.
The top nations that emit greenhouse gas emissions are the United States and China, where they have already issued plans to limit their emissions beyond 2020.
