簡介：The file photo shows a wind power plant in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province. [Photo/Xinhua]The global carbon dioxide level has hit a record high, the China Meteorological Administration said on Monday, further demonstrating that climate change remains a global challenge.Data from the 2021 China Greenhouse Gases Bulletin said that global carbon dioxide concentrations reached 417 parts per million, a measurement for the amount of a gas in the air. That's the highest since China began to record the data in the 1990s, and much higher than the 280 ppm recorded during the preindustrial period before 1750, the administration said.The bulletin included data for the three main greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.The bulletin said methane concentrations in 2021 had risen significantly by 21 parts per billion compared with 2020."The law of climate change keeps changing in a way that goes beyond our understanding. Many new scientific issues and key technologies need to be tackled urgently," said Zhang Xingying, deputy head of the administration's science & technology and climate change department.He said so in response to an announcement at the 2021 Leaders' Summit on Climate that China will tighten the control of other greenhouse gases apart from carbon dioxide.Zhang said at a news conference on Monday that starting from 2023, the administration will double its annual funding to 90 million yuan ( million) for basic research on weather and climate change.The funding was jointly set up by the administration and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.The greenhouse gas levels were measured at the China Global Atmosphere Watch Baseline Observatory on Mount Waliguan in Qinghai province.Located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, its data has proved to be close to levels measured at stations overseas that are near or at a similar latitude.The Waliguan observatory took part in the World Meteorological Organization's Global Atmosphere Watch program, along with 30 other participants.The program's 2021 global greenhouse gases bulletin, issued in October, said the carbon dioxide concentration was 415.7 ppm, slightly lower than that gauged by China.The program coordinates observations and concludes analyses of greenhouse gases based on reports from participating countries, including China, every year.China's bulletin is customarily released after the global one.
[Photo/VCG]China urged the United States on Monday to share its epidemic information and data with the World Health Organization and the international community in a timely, open and transparent manner as XBB.1.5, a new Omicron sub-variant, is quickly becoming the dominant strain in the US."The US should take concrete and effective measures to stem the further spread of the epidemic," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing on Monday.His remarks came as XBB.1.5 is displacing other variants such as BQ.1.1 and now accounts for more than 40 percent of COVID-19 infections across the US.The open-access data from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data shows that almost all variants of the novel coronavirus and sub-variants have spread widely in the US since the start of the pandemic, making it one of the countries with the most COVID-19 strains, Wang said.In another development, Wang called on countries to uphold scientific principles and jointly ensure people's safe and smooth travel after Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg discouraged nonessential trips to China.While appealing for countries to contribute to international solidarity against the epidemic and the recovery of the world economy, Wang made it clear that China is well-prepared in terms of adjusting and optimizing its COVID-19 prevention and control measures, and the overall epidemic situation in the country is improving.With the significant weakening of the pathogenicity and virulence of the Omicron mutant strain, and China's medical treatment, virus detection and vaccination capabilities steadily on the rise, the nation has taken the initiative to refine its COVID-19 response measures, Wang said.Some Chinese provinces and cities have passed the peak of COVID-19 with production and life speeding up to return to normal, he added.On information sharing, Wang said that China has always adopted an open and transparent attitude and given timely notification to the international community, including on mutation monitoring of the virus and its infected populations.According to Wang, in the past three years, China has carried out over 60 technical exchanges with the WHO, four of which were conducted in the latest month alone.The country will continue to share viral genetic data on recent COVID-19 infections within its borders via the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data, he added. Here is shan dong 編輯： 宋基金 閱讀量：1091
