Earth’s carbon dioxide levels hit record high despite global slowdown from Covid

‘Reaching 50% higher carbon dioxidethan preindustrial is really setting a new benchmark and not in a good way’

A backyard overlooks GenOn Cheswick Power Station, in Pitttsburgh, US, which burns coal to produce 637 megawatts of electricity (Getty Images)

The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has reached the highest level in modern history, despite a global slowdown in the economy and reduction in commuting during the Covid pandemic.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the average carbon dioxide level for May was 419.13 parts per million. That is 1.82 parts per million higher than May 2020 and 50 per cent higher than when the industrial age began.

The figure is the highest since measurements started at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii more than 63 years ago.