Global temperatures set to skyrocket further as Green House Gas emissions reach new highs- World Meteorological Organization

Oct 30, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – We have all experienced the recent extraordinarily high temperatures in Guyana, and while persons from varying backgrounds have their own beliefs as to why this may be, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has scientifically explained this phenomenon.

Diagram depicting the unusually high temperature in Europe (Source: Copernicus ECMWF- taken from WMO facebook page)

In a new report published earlier this week, the Organization said, “Greenhouse gas concentrations have once again hit record highs. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels surged in 2021 to nearly 150% of the pre-industrial era, (while) Methane showed the biggest jump on record.” Both methane and carbon dioxide are dangerous green house gases (GHG) that affect climate change and the warming of the planet. However, besides these shivering revelations, the World Meteorological Agency went further to warn that these harmful emissions are continuing to increase this year, locking in more crippling weather conditions.

As though that was not ominous enough, it was noted that though the World is in late October, large parts of Europe and North Africa are still experiencing unusual high temperatures. For instance, WMO said temperatures are “Up to 35°C in southern Spain, France had nine days with more than 4°C above average and more than 25 sites in the United Kingdom reached 20 °C on 27 October.”

To this end, the WMO in a short but informative video explained, “Greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere are at a new record high. This is bad news for our planet and for all of us. Carbon Dioxide is the main heat-trapping gas and is now 150 percent higher than pre-industrial levels. Its long lifetime will drive future climate change…we are heading in the wrong direction. Global temperatures will increase further and more extreme weather will have a high human and economic toll. Our oceans will be hotter and more acidic, rising sea levels will continue, glaciers and ice will melt even more.”

The Organization was also keen to note that it is crafting a global infrastructure to monitor and support cuts in GHGs and help transform industrial, energy and transport systems. “We can and must do more for the sake of future generations,” the World Meteorological Organization urged.

In its most recent bulletin, published on October 26 last, the Organization said causes of these exceptional increases are still being investigated by the global greenhouse gas science community.

Children float above massive flood waters in Pakistan earlier this year after heavy rainfall left more than 1,000 dead, 1,600 injured and millions homeless (image: BBC News)

In 2016, 193 states from across the world signed an international treaty known as the ‘Paris Agreement’, which is geared towards strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius, which will be above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Last May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a bombshell report in which it warned that if the world is to achieve Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050, then plans for new oil and gas projects must come to a halt and drillers must rely on existing assets.

The IEA was previously in support of fossil fuel extraction efforts, and featured scenarios in its energy reports that would put the world on track to a catastrophic three degrees Celsius warming, according to ‘Oil Change International’, a group that advocates against the continuation of the fossil fuel industry.

The Report said if the NZE scenario is to be realised, then no new Natural gas fields are needed beyond those already under development. Also not needed the agency said, are many of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction facilities currently under construction or at the planning stage.

In addition to the IEA, Environmentalists had warned against the dangers of oil and gas production on the environment, given the harmful emissions released in the process. For example, offshore oil production involves the flaring of excess gas brought up during oil production. Flaring, as the word suggests, is the burning of the associated gas. This process emits harmful gases into the atmosphere that can not only affect seabirds and marine creatures, but also impact climate change.

Research shows that over 250 identified toxins released from flaring including carcinogens such as benzopyrene, benzene, carbon disulphide (CS2), carbonyl sulphide (COS) and toluene; metals such as mercury, arsenic and chromium; sour gas with Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2); Nitrogen oxides (NOx); Carbon dioxide (CO2); and methane (CH4) which contributes to the greenhouse gases.