epa06298544 (FILE) - Smokes billow out of chimneys at a chemical plant in north China's Tianjin municipality, 23 December 2008 (reissued 30 October 2017). Media reports on 30 October 2017 state the greenhouse gas bulletin by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of the earth has considerably increased in 2016, with last year's increase being 50 per cent higher than the average of last 10 years. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the earth atmosphere surged at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to the highest level in 800 000 years WMO said. EPA/RYAN TONG