Alex Larcombe and his colleague Philip Bierwith, emeritus research associate at Australian National University, analyzed more than two decades of US health data and discovered shifts in people’s blood chemistry that appear to mirror the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
They were looking for markers in the blood that are intricately linked with how much carbon dioxide people breathe in.
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As humans burn fossil fuels and pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, [we are heating up the planet](https://www.thekids.org.au/news–events/news-and-events-nav/2026/march/rising-C02-levels-detected-in-human-blood/). But there is another alarming impact of this climate pollution: it may be changing the chemistry of our blood.
Alex Larcombe and his colleague Philip Bierwith, emeritus research associate at Australian National University, analyzed more than two decades of US health data and discovered shifts in people’s blood chemistry that appear to mirror the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
They were looking for markers in the blood that are intricately linked with how much carbon dioxide people breathe in.
Average blood bicarbonate levels have increased by 7% since 1999, closely tracking the rise of in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the same period, according to the [study](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11869-026-01918-5?utm_source=rct_congratemailt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=oa_20260226&utm_content=10.1007%2Fs11869-026-01918-5), published last month in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health.
If these trends continue, bicarbonate in human blood could “reach unhealthy levels” within the next 50 years, the study concluded.
[](https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/25/climate/heat-speed-up-biological-aging)