A 2.9 parts-per-million (ppm) increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide between 2012 and 2013 was the largest single-year increase in 30 years, according to the annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin released yesterday by the U.N. World Meteorological Organization. “We must reverse this trend by cutting emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases across the board,” said WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud. “We are running out of time.” In 2013, methane concentrations reached a record 1,824 ppm, while the world’s oceans continued to absorb about 25% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, leading to ocean acidification rates that are unprecedented in 300 million years. “The good news is, according to WMO, that action can still be taken to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and prevent catastrophic global warming through cooperative international policymaking,” Atkin writes. “The WMO urged policymakers worldwide to use their report as a ‘scientific base for decision-making.’”
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