A depiction of the global sources of CO2 which are dominated by the US, China and Europe Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have surged past an important threshold and may not dip below it for “many generations”. The 400 parts per million benchmark was broken globally for the first time in recorded history in 2015 . But according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2016 will likely be the first full year to exceed the mark. The high levels can be partly attributed to a strong El Niño event. Gas spike While human emissions of CO2 remained fairly static between 2014 and 2015, the onset of a strong El Niño weather phenomenon caused a spike in levels of the gas in the atmosphere. That’s because the drought conditions in tropical regions produced by El Niño meant that vegetation was less able to absorb CO2. There were also extra […]