Heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane levels in the air last year spiked to record highs again

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the levels of the crucial heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached historic highs last year, growing at near-record fast paces. Friday’s NOAA calculations show carbon dioxide, the most important and abundant of the human-caused greenhouse gases, rose in 2023 by the third highest amount in 65 years of record keeping. Scientists are also worried about the rapid rise in atmospheric levels of methane, a shorter-lived but more potent heat-trapping gas. Both jumped 5.5% over the past decade of souped-up climate change. The third biggest human-caused greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, also spiked to a record high.