By Bunmi Yekini
The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has called for urgent action ahead of next month’s UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, after it warned of Global greenhouse gas levels which surged to another all-time high in 2023.
The WMO report, released on Monday, highlights the growing urgency as carbon dioxide (CO2) levels now accumulate at an unprecedented rate, pushing the planet closer to dangerous temperature thresholds and sparking intensified calls for major polluters to act.
Greenhouse gases reached another record high in 2023, underscoring the urgent need for decisive action to combat climate change, according to a report released Monday by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO). As global leaders prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku next month, the WMO warned that these alarming increases are accelerating global warming, affecting ecosystems, sea levels, and human lives across the planet.
WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett stressed that carbon dioxide (CO2) is now accumulating in the atmosphere “faster than at any time experienced during human existence.” Barrett pointed out that due to the long-lasting impact of CO2 in the atmosphere, “we are committed to rising temperatures for many, many years to come.” She explained that CO2 concentrations have increased 11.4 percent over the past 20 years, reaching 420 parts per million (ppm) in 2023, a staggering rise compared to 377.1 ppm in 2004.
“These are more than statistics,” said Barrett, emphasizing that “every part per million matters, every fraction of a degree of temperature increase matters.” This increase, she noted, directly impacts glacier retreat, sea level rise, and ocean acidification, intensifying extreme heat exposure, species extinction, and ecosystem disruption.
Key contributors to rising emissions include forest fires and the El Niño phenomenon, which intensified drier conditions in 2023. “Last year’s wildfires in Canada were absolutely dramatic in terms of greenhouse gases produced,” noted WMO Senior Scientific Officer Oksana Tarasova. Current CO2 levels, she added, have not been seen “in the history of humanity.”
Tarasova pointed out that CO2 levels were last this high three to five million years ago, a period marked by temperatures three to four degrees warmer than today and sea levels 10-20 meters higher.
“Even though there is a lag and temperatures will rise, we are not to be dissuaded from action,” Barrett added, stressing the critical importance of countries adopting “a lower fossil fuel economy” to safeguard future generations. She concluded, “It all just depends on how quickly we take action and how fast we can reduce those temperatures.”
The WMO report calls for urgent action to reduce emissions. It highlighted that from 1990 to 2023, radiative forcing, a measure of the warming effect on the climate from greenhouse gases, increased by over 50 percent, with CO2 accounting for more than 80 percent of that increase.
“As long as emissions continue, greenhouse gases will continue accumulating in the atmosphere, leading to global temperature rise,” WMO warned, urging countries to take ambitious steps at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference.