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The so-called Keeling curve, which records the concentration of CO2 in the air, currently measures a maximum value. To limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, only about 284 gigatons of CO2 can be emitted worldwide.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has continued to rise despite the coronavirus pandemic. The so-called Keeling curve reached a new record high in March this year. The California Scripps Institution of Oceanography Research Center, which has been tracking the concentration of CO2 in the air in Hawaii since 1958, currently measures a value of more than 418 ppm (parts per million). According to scientists, this is the highest level in millions of years.
The Keeling curve is considered the most important set of environmental data of the 20th century. It is subject to seasonal fluctuations due to the vegetation cycle and reaches its annual maximum in May. However, climate researchers are concerned about the increase from year to year. In 2020, the CO2 concentration was 415 in March and increased to 418 in May 2020. This year, the value of 418 was exceeded in March and could rise to 420 ppm in May.
1958 is still a value of 317 ppm
American scientists have been measuring the concentration of CO2 in the air at the Mauna Loa station in Hawaii since 1958. It is the oldest carbon dioxide measuring station in the world. When the investigations started there, the CO2 value was still 317 ppm. Charles David Keeling is considered the discoverer of the effect of greenhouse gases with his metrological evidence. The increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere causes the earth to get hotter and hotter. Besides carbon dioxide, there are other greenhouse gases such as methane.
To limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, only about 284 gigatons of CO2 can be emitted worldwide. With carbon dioxide emissions of around 1,331 tonnes per second, this will be the case in about six years and nine months, that is, by the end of 2027, as shown by the CO2 clock of the Berlin climate research institute MCC. The calculations are based on data from the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Recently, there have been more and more voices in science that it is too late for the 1.5 degree target.
The 2016 Paris Agreement on Climate Change agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees if possible, but at least to less than two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era.
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