(CNN) Concentrations of carbon dioxide surged at a record breaking speed in 2016, according to the annual Greenhouse Gas bulletin compiled by the World Meteorological Organization.

The Geneva-based organization said that levels of the heat-trapping gas CO2 in the atmosphere are the highest in in 800,000 years.

"The abrupt changes in the atmosphere witnessed in the past 70 years are without precedent," WMO said in a statement.

The report cited a combination of "human activities and "a strong El Niño event" as the reason why carbon dioxide levels increased so swiftly.

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