Despite the economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global average atmospheric CO2 sets a new record high amount. CO2 levels today are higher at any point in at least the past 800,000 years.
CO2 concentrations are rising particularly because of the fossil fuels that people are burning for energy like coal and oil that contain carbon. Through these practices, we put more CO2 into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove resulting to a distinct rise in the net global amount of CO2. The more we leave what natural processes remove, the faster the annual growth rate. This is the main cause of climate change which is causing the planet to heat up.