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Global CO2 levels hit record high

Global carbon dioxide levels have hit to a record high, according to the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii said CO2 levels within the earth's atmosphere are nearly 40 per cent higher than when the industrial revolution began.

Both the level of carbon and the rate of increase are accelerating significantly.

CO2 levels in the atmosphere stand at 387 parts per million (PPM), the highest level in an estimated 650,000 years.

Researchers said average growth over the last year has seen this figure rise a further 2.14ppm alone, the fourth year in the past six to see an annual rise greater than 2ppm.

From 1970 to 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year.

Since 2000, the annual rise has leapt to an average 2.1ppm.

Should the tendency continue, scientists said, the atmosphere will warm further causing 'significant' changes to the world's climate.

Martin Parry, co-chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse. Levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise in the atmosphere and the rate of that rise is accelerating.

"We are already seeing the impacts of climate change and the scale of those impacts will also accelerate, until we decide to do something about it."

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