A Grim Signal: Atmospheric CO2 Soared in 2024

Inside Climate News · By Bob Berwyn · last updated April 24, 2025 – 10:08 AM

Scientists are worried because they can’t fully explain the big jump, but they think it might mean that carbon absorption by forests, fields and wetlands is slowing down—a major problem for the world.

By Bob Berwyn

The latest anomaly in the climate system that can’t be fully explained by researchers is a record annual jump in the global mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere measured in 2024.

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