$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')REEN campaigners yesterday claimed that building new airports and coal-fired power stations was an "unpardonable folly", as figures showed carbon dioxide hitting record levels.
Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii said atmospheric levels of the climate change gas had hit 387 parts per million (ppm), a rate higher than for some 650,000 years.
The figures published by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in the United States also showed the annual average rate of level rises was 2.14ppm for last year.
Levels of in the air have been rising consistently since measurements began in 1958 at the remote laboratory in Hawaii, and experts say the rate of growth is increasing.








