Grid gas SF6 is building up at a record pace
Yearly rise in global average SF6 in the air, parts per trillion, 2012–2025. 2025 is preliminary.
- 1. Heat that bleaches coral reached 84% of the world's reefs
- 2. Swiss glaciers lost over 5% of their ice in 2026
- 3. Canada's 2023 fires burned more than twice the old record
- 4. Tropical forests lost a record 6.7 million hectares in 2024
- 5. Drought cut Panama Canal transits by a fifth in 2024
- 6. China adds more forest each year than any other country
- 7. Kyoto's cherry blossoms now peak earliest in 1,200 years
- 8. Brazil's Amazon lost the least forest on record
- 9. Three in four Bangkok residents now live on a floodplain
- 10. Indonesia now emits more CO2 from energy than Germany
- 11. Iran's gas flaring has doubled in ten years
- 12. Grid gas SF6 is building up at a record pace
SF6 added to the air in 2025, the biggest yearly rise on NOAA's record, beating 0.41 in 2023.
The 2025 rise against 1998's 0.20 ppt. The gas that insulates electrical switchgear keeps piling up faster.
How long SF6 stays in the air, by WMO's count. Each new grid built with it adds to a near-permanent stock.
the numbers & method
| Yearly rise (ppt) | |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.31 |
| 2013 | 0.32 |
| 2014 | 0.34 |
| 2015 | 0.32 |
| 2016 | 0.34 |
| 2017 | 0.35 |
| 2018 | 0.35 |
| 2019 | 0.32 |
| 2020 | 0.34 |
| 2021 | 0.39 |
| 2022 | 0.37 |
| 2023 | 0.41 |
| 2024 | 0.40 |
| 2025 | 0.48 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate · Interpretation
NOAA GML global annual SF6 mole fraction increase (ppt, 1 Jan to 31 Dec), file sf6_gr_gl.txt (file created 9 Oct 2026), globally averaged marine surface sites. Full series 1998–2025: 0.20, 0.17, 0.21, 0.19, 0.22, 0.25, 0.21, 0.23, 0.25, 0.28, 0.29, 0.29, 0.27, 0.28, 0.31, 0.32, 0.34, 0.32, 0.34, 0.35, 0.35, 0.32, 0.34, 0.39, 0.37, 0.41, 0.40, 0.48. NOAA notes the last year is subject to change after recalibration (preliminary). The ratio 0.48/0.20 is a progrss calculation. WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin No. 22 (Oct 2026) also reports a record SF6 increase in 2025 and a lifetime of more than 1,000 years. SF6 is used mainly as an insulating gas in electrical switchgear (Interpretation of the link between grid build-out and the rise; the data do not split sources).
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