LEFKOSIA –
Greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations measured over Cyprus have reached record-breaking levels, according to findings from the first five years of continuous monitoring of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) led by the Cyprus Institute’s Climate and Atmosphere Research Centre (CARE-C).
The Cyprus Institute notes in a press release on March 10, that the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region has already been recognized as a global climate change hotspot.
Long-term measurements of GHG emissions such as the one now carried out in Cyprus are essential for scientists to independently monitor these greenhouse gases, and the effectiveness of strategies for their reduction, in line with global efforts to address the climate crisis under the Paris Agreement.
Until recently, it says, high-precision greenhouse gas measurements have been limited in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, leaving a gap in the global monitoring of these long-lived gases that are well mixed in the atmosphere.
To address this gap, the Cyprus Institute’s CARE-C, in collaboration with the Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory (LSCE) in France and the University of Bremen in Germany, launched a long-term initiative to monitor the emission of key greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄).
It stresses that the 5-year GHG measurements revealed that GHG concentrations over Cyprus have reached record-breaking levels, increasing year after year.
In Ineia (in Paphos) for example, in January 2025 carbon dioxide concentrations exceeded the 430 ppm mark for the first time.
“These concentrations reflect the position of Cyprus, located in the outflow of European airmasses loaded with continental emissions. GHG concentrations reflect the amount of these heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, which are linked to emissions from human activities. Tiny variations of their concentrations across space contain information about their sources and sinks,” it notes.
Furthermore, it notes that higher GHG levels amplify the greenhouse effect, driving climate change and its already adverse effects on ecosystems, weather patterns, and societies.
Indicatively, according to a recently published paper led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and The Cyprus Institute, around 1.6 million people each year already die from extreme heat, while by the end of the century, climate change and air pollution could risk 30 million lives annually.
“As GHG concentrations continue to rise, long-term monitoring is essential to understand their sources and inform and evaluate the effectiveness of policies to reduce them to address the climate crisis.
By establishing high-precision GHG measurement infrastructure, the Cyprus Institute plays a vital role in addressing this challenge for Cyprus and the wider EMME region” the Cyprus Institute concludes.
