Atmospheric CO2 levels surged at a record pace in 2016, according to a report released on Monday that said human activity and a strong El Niño event played a role in the increase.
The reported increase in carbon dioxide levels comes as 2016 was confirmed as the hottest year on record around the world, beating the old record set in 2015, The Hill reported.
The World Meteorological Organization said the world average concentration of carbon dioxide in 2016 reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, an increase from 400.00 parts per million in 2015.
The organization said the rise was due to human activities and a strong El Niño event, setting carbon dioxide levels 145 percent of pre-industrial levels, or before 1750, citing the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
"Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement," WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said in a statement from the organization. "Future generations will inherit a much more inhospitable planet.
"CO2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans for even longer. The laws of physics mean that we face a much hotter, more extreme climate in the future. There is currently no magic wand to remove this CO2 from the atmosphere," Taalas continued.
The Washington Post said natural carbon dioxide is an essential for life on Earth, enabling green plants to convert sunlight into energy, but excessive levels can act as a heat trap, causing the planet to warm.
"It's the level that climate scientists have identified as the beginning of the danger zone," Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University professor of geosciences who was not involved in the WMO report, told the Post. "It means we're probably getting to the point where we're looking at the 'safe zone' in the rearview mirror, even as we're stepping on the gas."
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