Greenhouse gas concentrations hit a new record high last year and rose more quickly than the yearly average over the past decade, despite a temporary abatement of levels during pandemic closures, the World Meteorological Organisation said in a report released Monday.

The two announcements occurred just days before the launch of a UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

“The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin contains a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators at COP26,”Petteri Taalas

“The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin contains a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators at COP26,” global agency spokesman Peter Taalas said of his agency’s annual report on heat trapped gases in the atmosphere.

Many environmental activists, policy makers and scientists say the event-dubbed, respectively, COP26-from October 31-November 12 represents a crucial, and even decisive, opportunity to make concrete commitments to the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Follow AP’s climate news coverage at https:/ / apnews.com / hub / climate

The report is based on information gathered through a network that monitors the amount of environmental greenhouse gas left in the atmosphere after certain amounts have been absorbed by the oceans and the biosphere.

Oksana Tarasova, Head of Department of Atmosphatic and Environmental Research at the WMO, said the findings showing the Amazon moving from dump to spring was unique but noted that they come from a particular southeastern part of the Amazon, not the whole rainforest.

As a whole, the WMO noted, last year’s economic withdrawal from the pandemic had “did not have any discernible impact on the atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and their growth rates, although there was a temporary decline in new emissions.”

READ MORE:  Pope Francis praises youth activists in fight against climate change

Amazon (company)

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is one of the Big Five companies in the U. (wikipedia)


Petteri Taalas

Petteri Taalas is the Secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Appointed in 2015 by the World Meteorological Congress, (wikipedia)


World Meteorological Organization

The World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. (wikipedia)


Alok Sharma

Alok Sharma is a British politician serving as President for COP26 and Minister of State at the Cabinet Office since 2021. (wikipedia)