The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary driver of climate change, increased by a record amount between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest data released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Globally averaged CO2 concentration near the Earth’s surface reached 423.9 parts per million in 2024, 3.5 ppm higher than in 2023. The year-on-year increase in this period was significantly higher than the annual average during the 2011-2020 decade.

The year 2024 was also the warmest year ever recorded, with the global average temperature being 1.55 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial times. This was the first time that global annual temperatures had crossed the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold, a key limit which, when breached over a long-term period, can re

See Full Page