The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere globally has touched a record high again, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

Data released by the United Nations organisation showed two consecutive years of record CO2 levels — 397.7 ppm in 2014 and 400 ppm in 2015. Earlier this year, an analysis by scientists across the globe, including from NASA, showed that 2015 was the hottest year since temperature recording began in 1850s, with average temperatures sitting nearly 0.75 degree Celsius higher than the normal, breaking the earlier record set in the year 2014.

“CO 2 levels had previously reached the 400 ppm barrier for certain months of the year and in certain locations but never before on a global average basis for the entire year,” the WMO said in an official statement.

WMO’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin further predicted that 2016 will be the first year ever in which CO 2 remains above 400 ppm all through the year.

At the forthcoming Conference of Parties meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a global agreement to keep warming under 2 degree Celsius is likely to come into force. Curbing, even reducing, CO 2 emissions are vital as part of the deal to achieve this target.

The average atmospheric CO 2 levels in 2015 is estimated to be as much 144 per cent over the levels (278 ppm) seen in the pre-industrial years — the baseline for calculating global warming, the bulletin said.

In the last 25 years — between 1990 and 2015 — there was a 37 per cent increase in radiative forcing (the warming effect on climate) because of long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (N2 O ) from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities, the WMO said.

The previous year’s El Nino weather event, which changes weather patterns, including monsoons, has been cited as one of the reasons for the elevated CO 2 levels.

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