“Code red”: Driven towards deadly conditions

Climate & environment

Highest levels of carbon dioxide measured
"Code red" declared: Driving the climate towards deadly conditions

Published 11.52

Glacier du Tour in Chamonix, France is just one of several glaciers on Earth that are melting at a rapid pace. Photo: Getty Images

These are the highest levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ever measured.

Twice last week, values ​​​​above 430 ppm were recorded.

This has prompted scientists to declare "code red".

Researchers at ICCI, the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, have registered the record figures at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, where NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is responsible for the measurements, writes the Norwegian Dagbladet.

In a press release, ICCI describes the situation as code red, "that today's emissions from fossil fuels are pushing the climate towards increasingly extreme and deadly conditions."

Increasing rapidly

According to ICCI, this is the first time in, probably, at least three million years that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has exceeded 430 ppm, parts per million.

"This upward trend is a direct result of the continued use of fossil fuels, likely exacerbated by emissions from extreme forest fires last year, methane leaks from fossil fuel extraction and possibly greater emissions from permafrost," James Kirkham, chief scientist at the Ambition on Melting Ice coalition, told the newspaper.

Kikki Fleche, CEO of the Bjerkness Center for Climate Research at the University of Bergen, says the high readings are related to the seasons.

"In summer, the amount of CO2 decreases, because plants and trees absorb it from the air. In winter, the plants die and carbon dioxide readings go up. But with the rapid rate at which levels in the atmosphere are increasing, we expect the global average to be 430 ppm by 2027. These measurements are an indication of how quickly levels in the atmosphere are rising, she tells Dagbladet.

Missing the 1.5-degree target

Bjørn Samset, climate scientist at the Norwegian Cicero (Center for international climate and environmental research), says that it is no longer possible to reach the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree target. This means more extreme weather, more intense heat waves, longer periods of drought, fires and problems with food production.

- It sounds like a small number, but 1.5 degrees is much warmer than you think. For the Earth, this is extremely high. The discussion is now about how we can adapt to the climate that is coming. We must prepare for a warmer, wetter and tougher climate, Samset tells Dagbladet.