Major greenhouse gases rise again to record levels — SkimNews
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- Global Atmosphere Watch published its annual bulletin ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Turkey in November, reporting that global average surface carbon dioxide reached 426.8 ppm in 2025—53% above pre-industrial levels. The 2024–25 increase slightly exceeded the past decade’s average growth rate but was less steep than the previous year’s.
- Methane reached a record 1,948 ppb and nitrous oxide a record 339.1 ppb in 2025, standing 167% and 26% above their respective pre-industrial levels.
- Ko Barrett said: “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.”
- UN confirmed that the global target to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is due to be exceeded within the next few years, with emissions on track to cause 2.8°C of warming by the end of the century.
- Molecular hydrogen increased 5.3% between 2010 and 2024; the WMO noted that although it is not a greenhouse gas, it has a strong indirect warming effect and is used for energy storage.
- Sulphur hexafluoride has the highest 100-year global warming potential overall—about 24,000 times that of CO₂—and its levels have risen steadily for three decades in proportion to growing global electrification. It is used primarily as a spark suppressant in electricity distribution.
Why it matters: For power-grid operators, the overlooked SF6 trend is material: it has about 24,000 times CO₂’s 100-year warming potential, and its levels have risen for three decades in proportion to growing electrification. The WMO’s call for more attention makes SF6 part of the grid-decarbonisation problem, not a footnote beside CO₂, methane and nitrous oxide.
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