Greenhouse gas concentrations higher than in all of human civilisation
Author: Jeremy Wilks
The warming that we are seeing here on land would be even more rapid if it wasn't for the oceans. It's calculated that they are absorbing up to 90% of the excess heat in the atmosphere trapped by greenhouse gases. The negotiations that are taking place at COP 27 are obviously extremely important. The scenarios that are being projected by the IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) show that if the Paris agreement is implemented quickly and fully, we can stabilize temperatures and ocean acidification. This does not mean that we will return to the situation as it was before. It means we can stop the warming and stop the increase in acidity."The atmosphere at COP27 is business-like because everybody knows that the window is closing to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius. "Unfortunately, greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are still going up. A recent estimate came out and said that the CO2 concentration is at 416 parts per million. That's higher than it was last year, that's higher than it has been in all of human civilisation. So that's a very worrying trend because as carbon emissions continue to go up, climate change impacts will continue to get worse."