Earth’s atmosphere is trapping more heat than ever before. A new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals that carbon dioxide levels surged to record highs in 2024, locking the planet into a warmer future.

According to the WMO, this will commit the planet to more long-term temperature increase. The report indicates that continued emissions of CO2 from human activities and an upsurge from wildfires were responsible, as well as reduced CO₂ absorption by “sinks” such as land ecosystems and the ocean, in what threatens to be a vicious climate cycle.  

WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett warned that the “heat trapped by CO₂ and other greenhouse gases is turbo-charging our climate,” urging nations to cut emissions to protect both “economic security and community well-being.”

Moreover, methane and nitrous oxide, the second and third most important long-lived greenhouse gases related to human activities, have also risen to record levels. 

 Oksana Tarasova, a WMO senior scientific officer & coordinator of the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which is one of WMO’s flagship scientific reports, emphasized that sustaining and expanding greenhouse gas monitoring are critical to support the green transition.

WMO released the annual greenhouse gas bulletin to provide authoritative scientific information for the UN Climate Change conference in November. The COP 30 meeting in Belém, Brazil, will seek to ramp up climate action. 

When the bulletin was first published in 2004, the annual average level of CO₂ measured by WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch network of monitoring stations was 377.1 ppm. In 2024 it was 423.9 ppm. 

“There is concern that terrestrial and ocean CO₂ sinks are becoming less effective, which will increase the amount of CO₂ that stays in the atmosphere, thereby accelerating global warming. Sustained and strengthened greenhouse gas monitoring is critical to understanding these loops,” said Oksana Tarasova. 

Today’s CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere not only impact global climate today, but will do so for hundreds of years because of its long lifetime in the atmosphere. 

As the world heads to COP 30, the message from scientists is clear: every ton of CO₂ emitted today will shape the climate for centuries to come.