SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Report: Carbon Dioxide Levels Are Set to Pass 400ppm--Permanently
Carbon emissions and extreme weather events poised to push CO2 levels past symbolic threshold for good, new study finds
Jun 13, 2016
Record carbon dioxide levels are set to surpass the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (PPM) this year and will likely never fall below that line again in our lifetimes, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Scientists at the UK Met Office used emissions data, sea surface temperature figures, and a climate model from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to track the trajectory of CO2 levels and found that carbon dioxide "will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year and hence for our lifetimes."
Emissions have increased over the past 12 months due to the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the impact has also been exacerbated by an unbridled El Nino event. Reports from earlier this year also found that 2016 is poised to become the hottest year in recorded history.
The findings highlight increasingly urgent concerns about global efforts to curb climate change as outlined in the Paris agreement negotiated last December and signed in April by nearly 170 nations.
"It's a sign we are still on track for a high emissions scenario. We won't be looking at below 400ppm in our lifetimes," Richard Betts, co-author of the study and Met Office scientist, told Climate Home.
The outlet's editor Ed King reports:
The fact emissions rose faster than usual, Betts told Climate Home, was no surprise.
Higher CO2 rates are expected as El Nino warms and dries tropical land areas, slowing the uptake of carbon by trees and plants, and increasing the risks of forest fires.
[....] If and when the world continues to warm as the UN's climate science panel predicts it will based on current rates of warming gases, the threat of more fires at that scale could rise.
The study also found that devastating forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 and 2016--which NASA scientists warned at the time were the worst climate crisis on Earth--may have fueled about 20 percent of El Nino's addition worldwide CO2 levels.
File
imrs.php.png.txt(269.28 KB)
Carbon concentrations have passed the 400ppm limit before, but never permanently. The new study confirms that those days may be over for good.
"Once you have passed that barrier, it takes a long time for CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere by natural processes," Betts told the Guardian on Monday. "Even if we cut emissions, we wouldn't see concentrations coming down for a long time, so we have said goodbye to measurements below 400ppm at Mauna Loa."
The authors write: "In the longer term, a reduction in CO2 concentration would require substantial and sustained cuts in anthropogenic emissions to near zero."
The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is around 350PPM maximum, climate advocates say. But according to Betts, "We could be passing above 450ppm in roughly 20 years."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Record carbon dioxide levels are set to surpass the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (PPM) this year and will likely never fall below that line again in our lifetimes, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Scientists at the UK Met Office used emissions data, sea surface temperature figures, and a climate model from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to track the trajectory of CO2 levels and found that carbon dioxide "will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year and hence for our lifetimes."
Emissions have increased over the past 12 months due to the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the impact has also been exacerbated by an unbridled El Nino event. Reports from earlier this year also found that 2016 is poised to become the hottest year in recorded history.
The findings highlight increasingly urgent concerns about global efforts to curb climate change as outlined in the Paris agreement negotiated last December and signed in April by nearly 170 nations.
"It's a sign we are still on track for a high emissions scenario. We won't be looking at below 400ppm in our lifetimes," Richard Betts, co-author of the study and Met Office scientist, told Climate Home.
The outlet's editor Ed King reports:
The fact emissions rose faster than usual, Betts told Climate Home, was no surprise.
Higher CO2 rates are expected as El Nino warms and dries tropical land areas, slowing the uptake of carbon by trees and plants, and increasing the risks of forest fires.
[....] If and when the world continues to warm as the UN's climate science panel predicts it will based on current rates of warming gases, the threat of more fires at that scale could rise.
The study also found that devastating forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 and 2016--which NASA scientists warned at the time were the worst climate crisis on Earth--may have fueled about 20 percent of El Nino's addition worldwide CO2 levels.
File
imrs.php.png.txt(269.28 KB)
Carbon concentrations have passed the 400ppm limit before, but never permanently. The new study confirms that those days may be over for good.
"Once you have passed that barrier, it takes a long time for CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere by natural processes," Betts told the Guardian on Monday. "Even if we cut emissions, we wouldn't see concentrations coming down for a long time, so we have said goodbye to measurements below 400ppm at Mauna Loa."
The authors write: "In the longer term, a reduction in CO2 concentration would require substantial and sustained cuts in anthropogenic emissions to near zero."
The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is around 350PPM maximum, climate advocates say. But according to Betts, "We could be passing above 450ppm in roughly 20 years."
Related Articles Around the Web
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Record carbon dioxide levels are set to surpass the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (PPM) this year and will likely never fall below that line again in our lifetimes, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Scientists at the UK Met Office used emissions data, sea surface temperature figures, and a climate model from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to track the trajectory of CO2 levels and found that carbon dioxide "will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year and hence for our lifetimes."
Emissions have increased over the past 12 months due to the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the impact has also been exacerbated by an unbridled El Nino event. Reports from earlier this year also found that 2016 is poised to become the hottest year in recorded history.
The findings highlight increasingly urgent concerns about global efforts to curb climate change as outlined in the Paris agreement negotiated last December and signed in April by nearly 170 nations.
"It's a sign we are still on track for a high emissions scenario. We won't be looking at below 400ppm in our lifetimes," Richard Betts, co-author of the study and Met Office scientist, told Climate Home.
The outlet's editor Ed King reports:
The fact emissions rose faster than usual, Betts told Climate Home, was no surprise.
Higher CO2 rates are expected as El Nino warms and dries tropical land areas, slowing the uptake of carbon by trees and plants, and increasing the risks of forest fires.
[....] If and when the world continues to warm as the UN's climate science panel predicts it will based on current rates of warming gases, the threat of more fires at that scale could rise.
The study also found that devastating forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 and 2016--which NASA scientists warned at the time were the worst climate crisis on Earth--may have fueled about 20 percent of El Nino's addition worldwide CO2 levels.
File
imrs.php.png.txt(269.28 KB)
Carbon concentrations have passed the 400ppm limit before, but never permanently. The new study confirms that those days may be over for good.
"Once you have passed that barrier, it takes a long time for CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere by natural processes," Betts told the Guardian on Monday. "Even if we cut emissions, we wouldn't see concentrations coming down for a long time, so we have said goodbye to measurements below 400ppm at Mauna Loa."
The authors write: "In the longer term, a reduction in CO2 concentration would require substantial and sustained cuts in anthropogenic emissions to near zero."
The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is around 350PPM maximum, climate advocates say. But according to Betts, "We could be passing above 450ppm in roughly 20 years."
Related Articles Around the Web
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.