The World Meteorological Organization announced that concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere reached record levels during 2025, due to the continued burning of fossil fuels and human activities. The organization warned of the repercussions of this on rising temperatures and the worsening of weather phenomena in the long term.
The organization, in its new bulletin on greenhouse gases, clarified that the global average concentration of carbon dioxide reached 426.8 parts per million in 2025, equivalent to 153 percent of its levels recorded in 1750, before the Industrial Revolution.
In the same context, Deputy Secretary-General of the organization, Co Barrett, said during a press conference in Geneva: "Every additional increase in carbon dioxide concentration leads to trapping more heat in the atmosphere and oceans, which contributes to increasing the intensity of heatwaves, tropical cyclones, and rainstorms."
For its part, the organization noted in its bulletin that the growth rate of carbon dioxide concentration has tripled since the 1960s, with the average annual increase rising from 0.8 parts per million to 2.4 parts per million during the period between 2011 and 2020.
Oksana Tarasova, the organization's Chief Scientist, added that the exceptional increase of 3.5 parts per million during 2023 and 2024 coincided with the strong El Niño phenomenon, which contributed to the reduced capacity of ecosystems to absorb carbon, due to drought, deterioration of vegetation cover, and increased forest fires.
She pointed out that the annual increase of 2.8 parts per million during the period between 2024 and 2025, although lower than the previous increase, still represents a large accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere, warning of continued concentration increases during 2026 due to the burning of fossil fuels.
The organization clarified that about half of the carbon dioxide emitted annually remains in the atmosphere, while terrestrial ecosystems and oceans absorb the remainder. It warned of the need to monitor other gases associated with the expansion of electricity networks, primarily sulfur hexafluoride and molecular hydrogen.
It clarified that the concentration of sulfur hexafluoride in the atmosphere reached a record high during 2025. This gas is characterized by remaining in the atmosphere for more than a thousand years and having a warming potential equivalent to approximately 24,300 times that of carbon dioxide over a hundred years.
The concentration of hydrogen in the atmosphere also rose by 5.3 percent between 2010 and 2024. Although hydrogen is not a direct greenhouse gas, its leakage from production facilities, pipelines, and storage tanks can affect atmospheric chemistry and enhance warming indirectly.
It is worth noting that the annual greenhouse gas index issued by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that the radiative effect caused by greenhouse gases increased by 56 percent between 1990 and 2025, with carbon dioxide contributing about 81 percent of this increase.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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