Democracy Dies in Darkness

Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere mark a near-record surge

‘Not good,’ said one climate scientist, referring to a near-record increase in CO2 levels since May of last year

By
June 5, 2023 at 3:43 p.m. EDT
The Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory sits high atop Hawaii's largest mountain to sample well-mixed background air free of local pollution. (AP)
4 min

Despite rising awareness about global climate change and its devastating impacts, carbon dioxide levels keep treading in the wrong direction.

This year’s annual increase of CO2 levels is one of the largest on record, representing an accumulation of the heat-trapped gases “not seen for millions of years,” scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. The current amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now 50 percent higher than it was before the industrial era, the NOAA and Scripps scientists said in a report.