CO₂ at

Atmospheric [CO₂]:

429.1 ppm

Measured at Mauna Loa Observatory on 20/3/2026

Human activity has triggered an overwhelmingly rapid increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration, noticeable during our lifetime as never before. For example, Galileo Galilei was born at 282 ppm of atmospheric CO₂ and almost a century later Isaac Newton was born at 277 ppm, Charles Darwin was born at 284 ppm nearly one hundred and fifty years later. Entering our era, Marie Curie was born at 287 ppm, about 50 years later Rosalind Franklin was born at 302 ppm and a few years later Jane Goodall came to earth at 309 ppm. We entered the new millennium at 369 ppm and today we are overtaking 420 ppm.

References:

- Estimations from before 12/01/1972 use Antartic Ice Core (AIC) data from Bereiter et al. (2014)
- Measurements from 14/05/1974 to 31/12/2020 use Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) data from Thoning et al. (2021)
- Measurements from 01/01/2021 and on use Mauna Loa Observatory from NOAA/GML through carbon dioxide atmosphere concentration REST API v1.0