Greenhouse gas emissions have hit an all-time high: Study reveals how CO2 growth rates have tripled - as climate scientists call for urgent action

Greenhouse gas emissions have hit an all-time high, with CO2 growth rates tripling since 1960, a study has found. By the end of 2025, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere had hit its highest level ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).The greenhouse gas is now at an atmospheric concentration of 426.8 parts per million, or 153 per cent of the pre-industrial baseline.Experts warn that this relentless increase has 'locked in' years more long-term temperature increases for the planet, as they call for urgent action.Ko Barrett, deputy secretary-general of the WMO, says: 'Another year, another new record.'Greenhouse gases are trapping an unprecedented amount of heat in the atmosphere, providing energy for more extreme weather and associated risks to our economies and societies.'CO2 has a very long lifetime and so will affect the global climate not just for years but for decades and even centuries.' Greenhouse gas emissions have now hit an all-time high, with CO2 growth rates tripling since 1960 (right)Despite countries around the world making commitments to pursue green policies and Net Zero targets, the data presents a starkly different picture.Rather than decreasing as renewable power projects expand, the world's greenhouse gas emissions have only continued to grow.Since the 1960s, CO2 growth rates have accelerated from 0.8ppm per year to 2.4ppm per year in the decade between 2011 and 2020.However, from 2024 to 2025, the global average concentration of CO2 increased by 2.8 parts per million (ppm), only slightly less than the exceptional surge seen from 2023 to 2024.Oksana Tarasova, WMO scientific adviser, says: 'The more modest growth rate from 2024 to 2025 reflects recovery of the land carbon sinks and reduced fire carbon emissions in 2025 after the strong 2023/2024 El Niño, which reduced the efficiency of the biosphere through more drought, drier vegetation and more wildfires.'We can expect to see a further increase in concentrations in 2026 because of fossil fuel burning and the development of a powerful El Niño, which will impact land carbon sinks as it did in 2023/2024.'This increased concentration is already having a profound effect on the environment, leading to rapidly warming temperatures.Between 1990 and 2025, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that the cumulative warming effect on our climate, known as radiative forcing, had increased by 56 per cent, with CO2 accounting for 81 per cent of the increase. By the end of 2025, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere had hit its highest level ever recorded. This diagram shows greenhouse gases' relative contributions towards global warming from the pre-industrial era to 2025However, CO2 isn't the only pollutant reaching record concentrations, as methane and nitrous oxide, the second and third most powerful greenhouse gases, hit their highest levels ever recorded.Methane, which accounts for about 16 per cent of the warming effect on our climate, hit a concentration of 1,948 parts per billion, or 267 per cent of the pre-industrial level in 1750.Likewise, nitrous oxide reached a concentration of 339.1 parts per billion, which is 126 per cent of the pre-industrial baseline.As countries transition towards electrification, scientists are also observing a worrying rise in pollutants associated with the electric grid.Sulphur hexafluoride is primarily used as a spark suppressant in electricity distribution, and concentrations have been rising steadily over the past three decades.This gas is also a powerful greenhouse gas with a lifespan of over 1,000 years and a 100-year global warming potential of approximately 24,300 times that of CO2.Professor Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist from Imperial College London, told the Daily Mail: 'We see a continued upward trend in the climate pollution that is annually dumped into the atmosphere.'While the pace at which global greenhouse gas emissions increase has slowed down from earlier decades, an increase still implies an evolution in the opposite direction of what would be necessary to avoid climate change from getting increasingly worse.'Scientists warn that these gases, especially CO2, can persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning even a small increase in concentration today locks in years of temperature increases for future generations.Experts say this means governments need to rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change in the future. Forecasters expect Super El Niño to peak in December and remain strong into the spring of next year. Experts warn this could lead to increased overall CO2 emissions due to drought and wildfires This comes after data showed the Earth is on track for its hottest year on record after a brutal summer of extreme temperatures, experts say. Pictured: Temperatures relative to the monthly average for August Professor Pierre Friedlingstein, an expert on the global carbon cycle from Exeter University, told the Daily Mail: 'We will breach the 1.5°C global warming above pre-industrial in the coming years. Keeping warming well below 2°C will require rapid, deep and sustained GHG emissions reductions.'Climate change will only stop when anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to net zero.'This means when anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are massively reduced, and any remaining emissions from hard-to-abate sectors are compensated by anthropogenic negative emissions, such as carbon dioxide removal.'However, despite the increase in emissions, experts say there are promising signs that the world is moving in the right direction.Professor Piers Forster, director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, told the Daily Mail that the record emissions mean the world will 'experience major impacts over the next few years', but insists that there are reasons for hope.He says: 'Probing other data, it’s not all bad news. Renewable energy generation overtook coal generation in 2025.'And although EVs, data centres, and increased use of air conditioning are leading to increasing electricity use, for the first time, this increase was met by increases in the use of renewable energy, and fossil fuel electricity generation slightly declined.'THE PARIS AGREEMENT: A GLOBAL ACCORD TO LIMIT TEMPERATURE RISES THROUGH CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION TARGETSThe Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, is an international agreement to control and limit climate change.It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2°C (3.6ºF) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C (2.7°F)'.It seems the more ambitious goal of restricting global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) may be more important than ever, according to previous research which claims 25 per cent of the world could see a significant increase in drier conditions. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has four main goals with regards to reducing emissions:1) A long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels2) To aim to limit the increase to 1.5°C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change3) Governments agreed on the need for global emissions to peak as soon as possible, recognising that this will take longer for developing countries4) To undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available scienceSource: European Commission