🐅 Environment
Greenhouse gases hit record highs in 2025, says WMO ahead of COP31
In 60 seconds: Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached record highs in 2025, the World Meteorological Organization's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin says. Carbon dioxide averaged 426.8 parts per million, 53% above pre-industrial levels. Methane reached 1,948 parts per billion and nitrous oxide 339.1. The yearly rise in carbon dioxide, 2.8 ppm, was smaller than the record 3.6 ppm a year earlier but still above the decade's average. The report comes before the COP31 climate talks.
Why it matters
These gases trap heat for decades to centuries, so every year's addition locks in more warming, heatwaves and extreme rain. The numbers will shape what countries are asked to do at COP31.
Explain it simply
Pour chai into a cup faster than you drink it and the level keeps rising, even if you pour a little slower some days. Our air is that cup and fossil fuels are the kettle.
The 3-minute read
What happened
Carbon dioxide caused about 81% of the rise in warming from long-lived greenhouse gases between 1990 and 2025, according to NOAA data in the bulletin. Sulphur hexafluoride, used in electrical equipment, also saw a record increase.
Background
About 65% of methane comes from human activities such as cattle farming, rice cultivation, fossil fuel extraction, landfills and biomass burning. The past 11 years have been the warmest on record.
How it works
The slower carbon dioxide rise in 2025 is likely due to land carbon sinks recovering and fewer fires after the strong 2023–24 El Niño, not because emissions fell.
What's next
WMO scientists say carbon dioxide levels will likely rise further in 2026 because of fossil fuel use and a developing El Niño. COP31 is due in Antalya, Türkiye, on 9–20 November.
What it means for you
Using public transport, saving electricity and cutting food waste all reduce the gases that keep piling up in the air.
Key numbers
- 426.8 ppm: Carbon dioxide in 2025
- 53%: CO2 above pre-industrial level
- 1,948 ppb: Methane in 2025
- 2.8 ppm: Rise in CO2 from 2024 to 2025
Both sides
- WMO scientists: Record gas levels lock in further warming, and the trend of hot years is set to continue.
- Climate analysts: The slower CO2 rise reflects nature recovering after El Niño, not real cuts in emissions.
Key terms explained
- Parts per million
- A measure of concentration: how many molecules of a gas are in every million molecules of air.
- Pre-industrial levels
- The level of gases before large-scale burning of coal and oil began, taken as around 1750.
The story so far
- Dec 2015: Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. Nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris to keep warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to try to limit it to 1.5°C.
- Nov 2025: COP30 held in Belém, Brazil. The 30th UN climate conference was held in Belém, in Brazil's Amazon region, in November 2025.
- Today: WMO: greenhouse gases at record highs in 2025
Exam notes (UPSC, SSC, Banking, PSC)
- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a UN specialised agency headquartered in Geneva.
- The Paris Agreement (2015) aims to keep warming well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
- The Kigali Amendment (2016) to the Montreal Protocol phases down HFCs, which are powerful greenhouse gases.
- COP stands for Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Likely exam question: Why do greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising even when the yearly increase slows? What does this mean for the 1.5°C goal?