'Time is running out' as greenhouse gases surge -UN

STORY: The annual report by the World Meteorological Organization is the first of several released ahead of a U.N. climate summit next month in Egypt and aims to spur leaders into action.

Hikes in the atmospheric concentration of all three greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide - outstripped the average increase over the past decade, it showed, meaning they are now all at new record levels.

Concentrations of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide rose by 2.5 parts per million to 415.7 - a level not seen since at least 3 million years ago when the Earth was much warmer. The jump in the potent, heat-trapping gas methane was the highest since records began in 1983, the report said. Methane is the number two gas contributing to warming after carbon dioxide.

The WMO said scientists are investigating the reason for the exceptional hike in methane levels of 18 parts per billion to 1,908 last year following a similar increase in 2020. The largest contribution came from wetlands, landfills, and rice paddies - a factor that might be caused by warmer weather speeding up natural decomposition processes, the WMO said.