CO2 Now

Atmospheric CO2 is accelerating upward from decade to decade.   

For the past ten years, the average annual rate of increase is 2.07 parts per million (ppm).   This rate of increase is more than double the increase in the 1960s.   

See the table below.  

Decade                 Total Increase        Annual Rate of Increase

2003 –  2012              20.74 ppm                     2.07 ppm per year 

1993 –  2002               16.73 ppm                     1.67 ppm per year 

1983 –  1992                15.24 ppm                     1.52 ppm per year 

1973 –  1982               13.68 ppm                     1.37 ppm per year 

1963 –  1972                 9.00 ppm                     0.90 ppm per year 

Before the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, global average CO2 was about 280 ppm. During the last 800,000 years, CO2 fluctuated between about 180 ppm during ice ages and 280 ppm during interglacial warm periods. Today’s rate of increase is more than 100 times faster than the increase that occurred when the last ice age ended.

~ NOAA Media Release "Carbon Dioxide...Tops 400 ppm" (2013)

Source Data:

Data is calculated by CO2Now using measurements of the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere (Mauna Loa Observatory) that were made and posted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's CO2 Program.

Related Information:

CO2Now  |  Data for atmospheric CO2 (Mauna Loa Observatory)

CO2Now  |  Global carbon emissions

CO2Now  |  Annual CO2 concentrations

CO2Now  |  Global temperature

CO2Now  |  The Climate Sheet:  More "Big Picture" Data