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WMO says CO2, methane and nitrous oxide hit record levels in 2025
The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide all reached new highs in 2025, according to CBS News.
- New headline Was: “Greenhouse gas levels set records again in 2025, U.N. says”
- Our desk filed its story
The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide all reached new highs in 2025, CBS News reported from Geneva1.
The finding is in WMO’s 22nd annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which measures how much of those gases remains in the air rather than yearly emissions, CBS said1.
CBS reported 2025 global averages of 426.8 parts per million for carbon dioxide, 1,948 parts per billion for methane and 339.1 parts per billion for nitrous oxide, or 153%, 267% and 126% of levels before 17501.
Carbon dioxide accounts for about 66% of the warming effect from long-lived greenhouse gases, and about half of each year’s CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere, with the rest taken up by land and oceans, CBS said, citing WMO1.
The year-to-year CO2 increase was 2.8 ppm, smaller than the 3.6 ppm rise from 2023 to 2024 but still above the past decade’s average of 2.6 ppm, CBS reported1.
WMO senior scientific officer Oksana Tarasova attributed the slower 2025 jump to recovering land carbon sinks and fewer fire emissions after the 2023-2024 El Nino, while still calling 2.8 ppm a substantial addition from fossil fuel burning, according to CBS1.
WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett said, "Greenhouse gases are trapping an unprecedented amount of heat in the atmosphere," CBS reported1.
Barrett also said the past 11 years have been the warmest on record and that CO2’s long lifetime will affect climate for decades to centuries, CBS said1.
Methane accounts for about 16% of the warming effect of long-lived greenhouse gases, with about a third from natural sources such as wetlands and the rest from cattle, rice farming, landfills and biomass burning, CBS reported1.
The bulletin said more attention should go to hydrogen and sulfur hexafluoride as energy systems change; SF6 has risen for three decades as a spark suppressant in electricity networks, and why hydrogen has risen over the past decade is unknown, CBS said1.
Tarasova warned concentrations are expected to rise further in 2026 because of fossil fuel burning and a developing El Nino that could weaken land carbon sinks, CBS reported1.
The bulletin was released ahead of the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, from Nov. 9 to Nov. 201.
