GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations weather agency has issued a “red alert” on global warming, citing record increases in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures and the melting of glaciers and sea ice last year, and warning that the world’s efforts to reverse… This trend was not enough.
The World Meteorological Organization said there was a “high probability” that 2024 would be another record hot year.
In a “State of the Global Climate” report released on Tuesday, the Geneva-based agency raised concerns that a much-vaunted climate goal is increasingly at risk: that the world can unite to limit global warming to no more. About 1.5 degrees Celsius. (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
“We have never been closer – even tentatively at the moment – to the 1.5°C threshold of the Paris Agreement on climate change,” said Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the agency. “The WMO community is sounding a red alert to the world.”
The 12-month period from March 2023 to February 2024 exceeded the 1.5 degree limit, With an average of 1.56 degrees Celsius (2.81 F) higher, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Service. She said the calendar year 2023 was just under 1.5 degrees Celsius 1.48 °C (2.66 °F)But the record hot start to the year has pushed the 12-month average beyond that level.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “The Earth is launching a distress call.” “The latest State of the Global Climate report shows the planet is on the brink. Fossil fuel pollution is sending climate chaos off the charts.
The year following an El Niño event – the periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean that affects global weather patterns – typically tends to be warmer, said Omar Baddour, head of climate monitoring at the World Meteorological Organization.
“So we can't say definitively that 2024 will be the warmest year. But what I would say: There is a high possibility that 2024 will again break the record of 2023, but let's wait and see.” “January was Warmest January on record. “So records are still being broken.”
The latest findings from the World Meteorological Organization are particularly stark when compiled into one report. In 2023, more than 90% of ocean waters will experience heatwave conditions at least once. Glaciers monitored since 1950 have lost the most ice on record. Antarctic sea ice has fallen to an all-time low
“Above all the bad news, what worries me most is that the planet is now in a state of collapse — literally and figuratively, given rising temperatures and loss of mass from the polar ice sheets,” said Jonathan Overbeck, dean of the University of Michigan faculty. Environment and Sustainability, which was not involved in the report.
Saullo described the climate crisis as “the critical challenge facing humanity” and said it was coupled with a crisis of inequality, as seen in rising food insecurity and migration.
The impact of heatwaves, floods, droughts, forest fires and tropical cyclones, exacerbated by climate change, will be felt on lives and livelihoods on every continent in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization said.
“This list of record-breaking events is truly disturbing, although not surprising given the steady pace of extreme events over the past year,” said Cathy Jacobs, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona, who was also not involved in the WMO report. “The full cost of accelerating climate change events across sectors and regions has never been calculated in a meaningful way, but the cost to biodiversity and the quality of life of future generations is incalculable.”
But the agency also acknowledged there is a “glimmer of hope” in trying to prevent global warming too much. It said renewable energy generation capacity from wind, solar and hydropower rose by almost 50% from 2022 to a total of 510 gigawatts.
The report comes as climate experts and government ministers meet in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, on Thursday and Friday to press for more climate action, including increased national commitments to combat global warming.
“Every year the climate story gets worse; every year WMO officials and others announce that the latest report is a wake-up call for policymakers,” said Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria and a former British Columbia lawmaker.
“Yet every year, as soon as the 24-hour news cycle ends, too many of our elected ‘leaders’ return to political grandstanding, partisan bickering, and promoting policies that produce clear short-term results,” he added. “Too often, everything else ends up taking precedence over advancing climate policy. And so nothing gets done.”
___
Bornstein reported from Washington, D.C
___
AP's climate and environment coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Search for access points Standards To work with charities, list of supporters and funded coverage areas on AP.org.
. “Proud zombie lover. Evil pop culture buff. Amateur thinker. Total food practitioner. Tv evangelist.”