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| Ricky Leath, an outreach specialist with the City of Miami, distributes water and supplies to the homeless to manage high temperatures, May 15, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File) |
Last year was the hottest year on record, the top 10 hottest years were all in the past decade and planet-heating carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are at an 800,000-year high, a report Wednesday said.
In its annual State of the Climate report, the World Meteorological Organization laid bare all the markings of an increasingly warming world with oceans at record high temperatures, sea levels rising and glaciers retreating at record speed.
“Our
planet is issuing more distress signals,” said António Guterres, United
Nations Secretary-General.
He noted that the report says the
international goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.8
Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times is still possible.
“Leaders must
step up to make it happen — seizing the benefits of cheap, clean
renewables for their people and economies,” he said.
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| 2024 was the first year to exceed 1.5 C in global temperature increase. Source: Copernicus Climate Change Service Graphic: M.K. Wildeman |
An El Nino formed in June 2023 and dissipated a year later, adding extra heat and helping topple temperature records.
In 2024, the world surpassed the 1.5 C limit for the first time — but just for a single year. Scientists measure breaching the climate goal as Earth staying above that level of warming over a longer time period.
The report said global heating is
contributing to more extreme weather events that have led the highest
levels of displacement for 16 years, contributed to worsening food
crises and caused massive economic losses.
There were at least 151
“unprecedented” extreme weather events in 2024 alone, it said.
“It is a wake-up call that we are increasing the risks to our lives, economies and to the planet,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO’s Secretary-General.
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| Humanitarian worker Roger Duvan Lagunes carries a fan into a shelter in Veracruz, Mexico, on June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File) |
The report’s warnings come as the United States President Donald Trump has issued a series of rollbacks
on climate commitments and cast doubt on climate science.
The U.S. is
the world’s second biggest polluter currently and the largest emitter of
greenhouse gases historically. It’s left some worried that other
countries will also have less ambitious targets as a result.
“The science is indisputable. Attempts to hide climate science from the public will not stop us from feeling the dire impacts of climate change,” said Brenda Ekwurzel of the U.S.-based not-for-profit, Union of Concerned Scientists.
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| Men deliver sacks of ice cubes as demand remains high due to hot temperatures in Quezon city, Philippines on April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) |
Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate activist also warned that “the longer we delay emissions cuts, the worse it will get.”
“Phasing out fossil fuels is not a choice—it is an emergency response to a crisis unfolding before our eyes,” she said.
Links
- Climate change, already causing problems on Earth, could soon create a mess for orbiting satellites
- Supreme Court rejects Republican-led effort to halt climate change lawsuits in Democratic-led states
- Scientists scorn EPA push to say climate change isn’t a danger, say just look around at the world
- Report highlights how communities hardest hit by climate change can build resilient water systems
- Climate change made conditions that fed California wildfires more likely and intense, study says
- EPA head says he’ll roll back dozens of environmental regulations, including rules on climate change
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