Monitoring Desk
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations (UN) announced Monday that it had taken a big step towards trying to fill an important gap in the fight against climate change, which is standardized and real-time tracking of greenhouse gases.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization has introduced a new Global Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Infrastructure that would provide better ways of measuring earth-warming pollution and assist in informed policy choices.
The new platform will integrate space-based as well as surface-based observing systems and will try to remove uncertainties about where greenhouse gas emissions end up.
It should result in much sharper and faster data on how the earth’s atmosphere is changing.
WMO chief Petteri Taalas said that the measurement shows that greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are at a record high.
Three major greenhouse gases
The 3 major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. Of those, CO2 accounts for around 66% of the warming effect on the climate.
Taalas said that the surge in CO2 levels from 2020 to 2021 was above the average growth rate over the last decade, and methane gas saw the biggest year-on-year (YoY) jump since measurements started.
The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change saw nations agree to cap global warming at “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above levels measured from 1850 to 1900, and 1.5 Celsius if possible.
The WMO said that stronger scientific underpinnings of climate change reduction actions promised under the agreement are required.
