ugc_banner

Carbon dioxide levels reach record high despite lockdown in 2020

WION Web Team
London, United KingdomUpdated: Apr 08, 2021, 01:07 PM IST
main img
File photo. Photograph:(Zee News Network)

Story highlights

Increase in the concentrations of carbon dioxide has been majorly caused by human activity such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels

If you thought there was a huge positive impact of the coronavirus lockdowns on climate, scientists have bad news for you. As per the latest measurements, concentrations of carbon dioxide have hit record highs during the pandemic.

According to the latest measurements at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, the global levels of carbon dioxide increased alarmingly and are nearly 50 per cent above what they were when the Industrial Revolution started in the UK.

Setting a new record high, the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas in March was nearly 417.14 parts per million (ppm), as per data released by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.

Not just this, the UK’s Met Office has also predicted that the monthly concentrations of carbon dioxide are set to hit the peak in 2021 at nearly 419.5 ppm, increasing from 417.10 ppm in May 2020.

The authorities have also warned that this year’s average level forecast can be around 416.3 ppm, while 2020’s average was 413.94 ppm.

An increase in the concentrations of carbon dioxide has been majorly caused by human activity such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. While the lockdown in 2020 may have helped a tad, it was not enough to put a stop to the substantial effect of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“Emissions may have been reduced but we are still emitting lots of carbon dioxide, and so its atmospheric concentration is bound to go up – and will continue to do so until we get to somewhere near net-zero emissions,” Prof Martin Siegert, of the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London told The Guardian.

“Our path to net zero is obvious, challenging and necessary – and we must get on with the transition urgently.