Pace of increase in CO2 concentration has increased three-fold: report

The pace at which the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing -- due mostly to the burning of fossil fuels -- has jumped three-fold in five decades, an international report said Wednesday. Throughout 2022, "the climate continued to respond to the ongoing increase in greenhouse gases and resulting warming," it added. The increase in global drought area that began in mid-2019 continued into 2022, according to the report. Across the two-thirds of the planet covered by seas, nearly 60 percent of ocean surface waters experienced at least one marine heatwave, according to the report. Oceans have trapped and stored more than 90 percent of the excess heat generated by global warming, keeping Earth's land surface liveable for most of its inhabitants.