Atmospheric CO2 readings from the 1970s until today.
Yes we have done nothing but make the situation worse in a very short period of time.
A case could be made for a return to the economic levels of the 1980s It would be interesting to know whether the level of economic ‘development’ in Europe in the 80s, if spread throughout the world, using contemporary renewables and so on, would still result in a reasonable level of CO2 in the atmosphere?
- 19 May 1974: 333.37
- 13 April 1980: 340.98
- 08 April 1990: 356.17
- 09 April 2000: 372.17
- 11 April 2010: 392.93
- 09 April 2017: 409.03
- 15 April 2018: 411.26
- 14 April 2019: 413.82
- 12 April 2020: 416.51
- 11 April 2021: 418.96
Pre-industrial base: estimated 280
Supposed safe level: 350
Increase of about 78 points in 42 years (since 1980). Thats about an increase of 23%.
Source:
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/webdata/ccgg/trends/co2/co2_weekly_mlo.txt