By BLOOMBERG

LONDON • Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels surged to their highest level in at least 800,000 years because of pollution caused by humans and a strong El Nino event, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Concentrations of the green-house gas increased at a record speed in 2016 to reach an average of 403.3 parts per million, up from 400 parts per million a year earlier, the WMO said in a statement yesterday, warning of “severe ecological and economic disruptions”.

It said the last time the Earth had a comparable concentration of CO2s, the temperature of the planet was 2°C to 3°C warmer and sea levels were 10m to 20m higher than now.

“Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century,” WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas said in the statement.

The record increase of 3.3 parts per million of CO2 was due partly to the strong El Nino in 2015 and 2016, which triggered droughts in tropical regions and curbed the ability of forests to absorb the gas, according to WMO. CO2 also comes from burning of fossil fuels for energy and from deforestation for farming and building.

CO2 concentrations were lower than 280 parts per million for the last 800,000 years and have risen since the industrial revolution, according to the geological data that’s gathered from ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica. The report will feed discussion at the annual United Nations-sponsored global warming conference starting in Bonn on Nov 6.