Global CO2 measurement hits record high in May despite pandemic

(Reuters, 4 Jun 2020) It would take CO2 reductions of 20-30% for six to 12 months to slow the rate of increase in measurements at Mauna Loa.

A key measure of carbon dioxide emissions in the Earth's atmosphere hit a record in May even as a global pandemic brought the world's economies to a virtual standstill this year, according to U.S. government data published on Thursday.

Carbon dioxide recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii reached 417 parts per million (ppm) in May, higher than the record of 414.8 ppm set last year, according to the announcement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

The drop in worldwide emissions due to the coronavirus outbreak -- estimated to be as much as 26 percent in some countries during the peak of government confinement orders -- fails to cancel out the large natural variations in carbon emissions caused by how plants and soils react to temperature, humidity and other factors, scientists said.

External link

Reuters, 4 Jun 2020: Global CO2 measurement hits record high in May despite pandemic