The annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin dashed hopes for a slowdown in emissions of CO2 - the byproduct of burning fossil fuels that scientists say is the main cause of the greenhouse effect causing global warming. “The science is clear. Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth. The window of opportunity for action is almost closed,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. The report found CO2 levels of 405.5 parts per million in 2017, up from 403.3 ppm in 2016. The rate of increase is in line with the average growth rate over the last decade, which was the fastest rate for 55 million years, the WMO said. Carbon dioxide levels have risen 46 percent since the pre-industrial era, around 1750. The rise was expected to be much lower in 2017, because the previous year saw “El Nino” weather conditions, which are normally followed by a big slowdown in the growth of CO2 concentrations. U.N. climate talks in Poland next month are meant to agree a rule book for the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change, which set a sweeping goal of ending the fossil fuel era this century. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has sent a letter to all states, telling them they have legal obligations under international human rights law to prevent climate change and try to mitigate its effects.

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