Geneva – Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to record levels in 2025, setting climate impacts that will persist for centuries, the United Nations said Tuesday. Levels of the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which warm the climate – rose to record levels in 2025, the UN weather and climate agency said. The World Meteorological Organization said the increase would lead to further long-term temperature increases on the planet. The 22nd annual WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin is published ahead of the COP31 UN climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, from 9 to 20 November. “Another year, another new record,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett. “Greenhouse gases are trapping an unprecedented amount of heat in the atmosphere, providing energy for more extreme weather conditions and the associated risks to our economies and societies. “The last 11 years have been the warmest on record and this trend will continue. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has a very long lifespan and will therefore affect the global climate not just for years but for decades and even centuries.” The impact of El Niño The bulletin looks at greenhouse gas concentrations (the amount of those gases in the atmosphere) rather than new amounts of annual emissions as the world burns more coal, oil and gas. In 2025, carbon dioxide concentrations were 426.8 parts per million (ppm); 339.1 parts per billion, bringing them, respectively, to 153%, 267% and 126% of the pre-industrial levels observed before 1750. Of the three main greenhouse gases, CO2 accounts for about 66% of the warming effect on the climate. 2023 to 2024 of 3.6 ppm, Oksana Tarasova, senior scientific director at the WMO, said this reflected the “recovery of terrestrial carbon sinks and the reduction of carbon emissions from fires in 2025 after the strong El Niño of 2023/2024”, the naturally occurring weather phenomenon that warms the climate. substantial addition of carbon to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. It is also above the average growth rate of the last decade of 2.6 ppm, a figure that remained at 0.8 ppm in the 1960s. “We can expect to see a further increase in concentrations in 2026 due to the burning of fossil fuels and the development of a powerful El Niño that will affect terrestrial carbon sinks, as it did in 2023/2024,” Tarasova warned. It accounts for around 16% of the warming effect on our climate due to long-lived greenhouse gases, although it has a much shorter life than CO2. About a third of the methane emitted into the atmosphere comes from natural sources such as wetlands, and the rest from anthropogenic sources such as livestock, rice cultivation, landfills and biomass burning. The bulletin said that as countries shift their energy systems toward decarbonization, more attention should be paid to two potent but less abundant trace gases closely linked to the production and distribution of electricity: molecular hydrogen. (H2) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). SF6 has increased steadily over the past three decades. It is mainly used as a spark arrester in electricity distribution. It is unknown why hydrogen levels have increased in the last decade, but it has begun to be used as a means of energy storage. ClimateWatch: News and articles on climate change Go deeper with The Free Press In:
