Atmospheric CO2 to pass iconic threshold in 2021: UK Met Office
By IANS |
Published on
Sun, Jan 10 2021 8:57 IST |
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London, Jan 10 : Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere this year will reach levels 50 per cent higher than before the Industrial Revolution due to human-caused emissions, according to the annual forecast of the UK Met Office.
The increase is driven by emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation, but will be slightly smaller than usual due to a temporary strengthening of natural carbon sinks, Xinhua news agency quoted the British national weather service as saying in the forecast released Friday.
Human activity will push concentrations of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to levels 50% higher than before the industrial revolution this year, breaching a symbolic climate change threshold, the UK’s Met Office forecast on Friday (8 January).
Only 2016 matched the heat in 2020, but that year saw a natural El Niño climate event which boosts temperatures. Without that it is likely 2020 would have been the outright hottest year. Scientists have warned that without urgent action the future for many millions of people “looks black”.
The temperature data released by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) showed that the past six years have been the hottest six on record. They also showed that Europe saw its hottest year on record, 1.6C above the long-term average, with a searing heatwave hitting western Europe in late July and early August.