The report by the World Meteorological Association, which was released Tuesday, said that global carbon dioxide emissions have risen from 280 parts per million in 1750 to 390.9 parts per million in 2011.
The year 1750 was chosen as the benchmark against to measure increases in greenhouse gas concentrations because it was shortly before humanity began widespread burning of coal and oil as energy sources.
"These billions of tonnes of additional carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will remain there for centuries, causing our planet to warm further and impacting on all aspects of life on earth,” WMO secretary general Michel Jarraud said in a statement accompanying the report. “Future emissions will only compound the situation.”
The report also indicates that, since 1990, there has been a 30 percent increase in the radiative forcing impact of greenhouse gas emissions.
The term "radiative forcing" means the extent to which greenhouse gases have caused the planet's climate to warm.
Jarraud explained that the absorption of carbon dioxide by Earth's oceans and plants, which has moderated the warming effect of the gas, may not continue at historic rates.
"Until now, carbon sinks have absorbed nearly half of the carbon dioxide humans emitted in the atmosphere, but this will not necessarily continue in the future," he said. "We have already seen that the oceans are becoming more acidic as a result of the carbon dioxide uptake, with potential repercussions for the underwater food chain and coral reefs.”
Carbon dioxide,while the greenhouse gas with the most significant heat-trapping impact, is not the only warming pollutant that continues to accumulate in the atmosphere. The WMA report shows that the concentration of methane hit 1,813 parts per billion in 2011, while the concentration of nitrous oxide rose to 324.2 parts per billion.
A separate report released on Sunday, this one by the World Bank, warned of temperature increases by as much as 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by 2060 if the world's nations cannot achieve a substantial lessening of greenhouse gas emissions.
"Lack of action on climate change threatens to make the world our children inherit a completely different world than we are living in today," World Bank group president Jim Yong Kim said in a statement accompanying the report. "Climate change is one of the single biggest challenges facing development, and we need to assume the moral responsibility to take action on behalf of future generations, especially the poorest."
