CO2 Levels Rose at Record Rate in 2024 [Video]

A garbage dump in Secunda, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa near the Sasol petrochemical plant, the world’s largest single-point emitter of CO2, on Dec. 5, 2024. Per-Anders Pettersson / Getty Images

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose faster than ever last year, according to scientists who say the rise is “incompatible” with goals set by the Paris Agreement, the United Kingdom’s Met Office said, as reported by BBC News.

Carbon levels are currently over 50 percent higher than before the rampant burning of fossil fuels by humans began.

“This is obviously bad news,” said professor Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the Met Office and University of Exeter, whose team analyzed the rapidly rising rate of carbon, as The Guardian reported. “But even if it looks like …