Reacting to the release of new figures showing that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is at its highest level for at least 650,000 years, head of Greenpeace's climate change campaign Robin Oakley said:

"We're now witnessing a key moment in the climate change story and it's not good news. The last time the atmosphere was this choked with CO2 humans were yet to evolve as a species. To even consider building new runways and coal-fired power stations at this juncture in history is an unpardonable folly, but Gordon Brown seems determined to stumble forward regardless with his ill-conceived plans in the face of the science and widespread public opposition."

Scientists say atmospheric CO2 levels now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40 per cent since the industrial revolution.

The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on its website, also confirm that carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected. Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its natural ability to soak up billions of tons of carbon each year.

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255.

Greenpeace statement on tomorrow's IPCC impacts, adaptation and vulnerability report

The second of four major reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 is expected to predict dire consequences for the planet if our greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Commenting on the news, Greenpeace climate campaigner Jim Footner said:

"It's clearer than ever that millions are at risk from devastating climate change. The poorest people will be hardest hit, despite being least to blame. The UK has played a major role in causing the problem and we must play a leading role in solving it - but appallingly our CO2 emissions are rising.

It's time for solutions that match the scale of the threat. To avert disaster, the Government needs to stop sitting on its hands and start implementing the solutions that already exist - decentralised energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency."

For further information please contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255 / 07801 212 972

The Bush Administration's favourite think tank has been offering scientists $10,000 to attack the UN's new climate change report.

Greenpeace has acquired a letter from the American Enterprise Institute, an ExxonMobil-funded lobbying outfit, offering the payments for articles that attack the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC's fourth assessment report is published today. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012.

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered by the AEI. It's not known if any scientists accepted the offer.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Vice-President Dick Cheney's wife Lynne is a senior figure at the Institute. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman the AEI.

The letters, sent to scientists in Britain, the US and elsewhere by the AEI's Kenneth Green, attacks the UN's panel as "resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent and prone to summary conclusions that are poorly supported by the analytical work" and ask for essays that "thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs".

Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: "The AEI is more than just a think tank, it functions as the Bush administration's intellectual Cosa Nostra. They are White House surrogates in the last throes of their campaign of climate change denial. They lost on the science; they lost on the moral case for action. All they've got left is a suitcase full of cash."

ExxonMobil is responsible for a fifteen year campaign of deception and denial on climate change. The world's biggest oil company, which yesterday posted the largest profits in global corporate history, funds front groups to distort the science of climate change.

Read the AEI letter in full here.

ENDS