The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is higher than ever before—and it is warming the Earth. In the past, nature still helped.
| The concentration of climate-darming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has reached a new record high: according to measurements by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), last year 423.9 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide were detected in the Earth’s atmosphere. Methane and nitrous oxide also reached new records. “It is alarming how strong the increase was within a single year,” explains climate scientist Mojib Latif to . For 2024, 3.5 ppm of new CO2 entered the atmosphere—the amount unseen before, almost four times as much as in the 1960s.
“The concentration is rising faster and faster,” says Latif, who since 2022 has also been president of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg: “One reason is that nature is losing more and more of its capacity to store greenhouse gases.” Forests, wetlands, and oceans would absorb less carbon dioxide than in previous decades – effects that are themselves direct consequences of climate change.
Since 2017, roughly German forests have been releasing more greenhouse gases than they store. “It’s as if the air conditioner is heating instead of cooling,” said then-Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Alliance 90/The Greens) at the presentation of the Federal Forest Inventory a year ago. 2024 was also a year with a strong forest fire season; a lot of CO₂ was emitted. In 2025 the fires raged even more, raising fears of a new record rise.
There is a direct link between the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the global surface temperature; according to the WMO, last year this stood 1.55 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The “Global Tipping Points Report 2025” had warned earlier this week that above 1.5 degrees, the ice sheets on Greenland and in West Antarctica could collapse, leading to a rise in sea level of several meters.
Paris climate target stands at 1.5 degrees
In the Paris Protocol, the international community pledged in 2015 to limit the temperature rise “to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, since it was recognized that this would substantially reduce the risks and impacts of climate changes.” At that time, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere first exceeded 400 ppm. Mojib Latif says: “The development illustrates the world community’s helplessness to finally address the problem with resolve.” All the more important would be serious climate protection.
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