Despite travel restrictions, flight bans, and border closures, emissions continued to rise in 2020. Global warming is pressing on, warns a UN report.

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached a new record high according to the UN, despite worldwide COVID-19 measures. The concentration of greenhouse gases rose to a new peak last year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva announced. Despite global restrictions on industry and other sectors due to the pandemic, concentrations continued to increase further this year as well.

The WMO publishes an annual report on global greenhouse gases, which are considered the primary cause of climate change. The study does not assess the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted, but rather the quantity that remains in the atmosphere. Some of the pollutants are absorbed by the oceans and the biosphere — that is, the totality of all ecosystems on Earth.

Whilst the pandemic did lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions — through the many lockdowns and shutdowns worldwide, border closures, flight bans, and other COVID-19 measures — the effect was only very minor, the UN organisation explained.

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