UN targets standardised tracking of greenhouse gases

GENEVA: The United Nations has launched a major effort to fill a key gap in the fight against climate change: Standardised real-time tracking of greenhouse gases.

How can we measure planet-warming pollution and learn more about it is vital to responding to the impact on humanity and should inform decision-making.

The UN's Meteorological Organisation WMO brought together more than 250 experts this week in Geneva to put together the different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle into a single framework. The goal is to standardise the way information is produced, fill in the knowledge gaps and produce faster and sharper data on how the planet's atmosphere is changing.

Hugo Zunker, a researcher at the Copernicus Earth observation programme, told attendees that climate change is the most stressing and long-lasting challenge of our time.

Without understanding how the climate is changing and what risks these changes bring, we can't plan for a sustainable and resilient future. The three major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide CO 2 methane and nitrous oxide. CO 2 accounts for around 66 per cent of the warming effect on the climate.

The Global Atmosphere Watch Programme monitors greenhouse gas concentrations from ground-based stations in pristine locations such as Hawaii, Tenerife and Tasmania.

There is no comprehensive, timely international exchange of surface and space-based greenhouse gas observations, according to the WMO.