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Greenhouse gas pollution trapped 49% more heat in 2021 than in 1990

Smokestacks

Smokestacks churn on an industrial scale. Credit: NOAA

Greenhouse gas pollution caused by  human activities trapped 49% more heat in the atmosphere in 2021 than they did in 1990, according to NOAA scientists.

NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, known as the AGGI, tracks increases in the warming influence of human emissions of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and 16 other chemicals. The AGGI converts the complex scientific computations of how much extra heat these gases capture into a single number that can easily be compared to previous years and tracks the rate of change.

The AGGI is indexed to 1990, the baseline year for the Kyoto Protocol and the year the first IPCC Scientific Assessment of Climate Change was published.

 

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