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Atmospheric Unrest: CO₂ Surge 2024

🪨 Atmospheric Unrest: CO₂ Surge 2024

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)[1] has confirmed that 2024 is the warmest year on record, based on six [3] international datasets. The past ten years have all been in the Top Ten, in an extraordinary streak of record-breaking temperatures.

Key messages

  • The past ten years 2015-2024 are the ten warmest years on record
  • We have likely seen the first calendar year with a global mean temperature of more than 1.55 °C (with a margin of uncertainty of ± 0.13 °C) above the 1850-1900 average
  • Six [2] international datasets are used to reach the consolidated WMO global figure
  • 2024 saw exceptional land and sea surface temperatures and ocean heat
  • Long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement not yet dead but in grave danger
Global Mean CO₂ Concentration 1959-2025

1750 — 280 ppm

Ten years before the industrial revolution, calm—CO₂ with levels stable. The Earth breathes freely

1957 — 315 ppm

Industrial revolution in full swing. Modern measurements begin—carbon shadows stir

2024 — 423.9 ppm

🔥 Record surge: CO₂ jumps 3.5 ppm in one year—wildfires, weakened sinks and El Niño's fury

🔥 Feedback Loops in Collapse

📈 Timeline of Atmospheric Disruption

1957

CO₂ tracking begins

2004

WMO Bulletin #1

2024

Largest CO₂ spike

2025

🧭 COP 30 in Belém, Brazil. Taking place in November 2025. The lungs of the planet host the next climate reckoning.

🧪 Emissions Metrics

Methane

1942 ppb

↑ 166% since 1750

Nitrous Oxide

338.0 ppb

↑ 25% since 1750

“The heat trapped by CO₂ and other greenhouse gases is turbo-charging our climate and leading to more extreme weather.”
— Ko Barrett, WMO[1]

References

[Six] Six Datasets Used to Confirm 2024 as Warmest Year on Record, including Copernicus, Japan Meteorological Agency, NASA, NOAA, Berkeley Earth, and UK Met Office - climate.copernicus.eu

[WMO] - wmo.int