Global Carbon Levels Rose by Record Amount in 2024, WMO Says (1)

Carbon-dioxide emissions from human activities and wildfires rose last year, while the land and oceans’ ability to absorb carbon diminished, leading to a record surge in the amount of the planet-warming gas in the atmosphere.

The global average concentration of CO2 blanketing the Earth surged by 3.5 parts per million from 2023 and 2024, the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin on Wednesday. That represents the largest yearly increase since modern measurements started in 1957 and is above the average increase of 2.4ppm in the decade between 2011 and 2020.

A damaged building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, US, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025.

Photographer: Eli Hartman/Bloomberg

“The heat trapped by CO2 and ...