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CO2 concentration levels in the atmosphere have registered a record in September (411.3 parts per million) despite the drop in economic activity caused by the coronavirus.

According to data from the World Meteorological Organization, the Mauna Loa station in Hawaii far exceeded the record of September 2019 (408.5 ppm) and even marked its historical peak in the month of May (416.2 ppm).

"The Covid19 pandemic is not a solution to climate change," warned WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas.

"The drop in emissions during lockdowns has been just a small notch on the long-term chart. What we need is to flatten the curve in a sustained way."

Although

the global drop in carbon dioxide emissions was 25% in April, it

is estimated that the total decrease at the end of the year will be between 4.2% and 7.5%.

Meteorologists highlight how the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere has had an annual cumulative effect of more than two parts per million in the last decade, with an especially sharp rise in 2019 that had a knock-on effect at the start of 2020.

"CO2 remains in the atmosphere for centuries,"

stressed physicist Petteri Taalas at the time of making the WMO records public.

"The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago, when temperatures were two to three degrees higher, and sea levels 10 to 20 meters higher than now. But then there weren't 7.7 billion humans on the planet. "

"In 2015 we exceeded the ceiling of 400 particles per million", recalls the Finnish meteorologist, referring to the figure that for many analysts represents the red line to avoid uncontrollable climate change.

"Just four years later we were already 410 ppm. An increase in CO2 in these proportions had never been recorded in history."

According to the WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already 50% higher than it was in 1750, before the industrial revolution.

It is estimated that the excessive accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere is the cause of two thirds of the greenhouse effect, in shared responsibility with other gases such as nitrous oxide (23%) or methane (17%).

Transformation of industrial systems

The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, intensive livestock farming and the use of fertilizers are some of the factors that contribute the most to the excessive increase in the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere.

The fall in energy consumption and the use of transport are behind the fall experienced especially in the second quarter of the year, in which the emission of polluting gases in cities also fell significantly (carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides).

Despite his previous warning, assuring that the pandemic cannot be the "solution", the director general of the WMO asserts that what happened this year "should nevertheless serve as a platform for a more ambitious and sustained climate action."

In Petteri Taalas's view, reaching the "zero emissions" goal by 2050 will require "a complete transformation of our industrial, energy and transportation systems."

"The necessary changes are economically accessible and technically possible, and would only affect our daily lives in a marginal way," concludes Taalas.

"We welcome the growing number of countries and companies that have committed to achieving carbon neutrality. There is no time to lose."

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