COP28 Chairman Sultan Al Jaber said the world is running out of time.
Greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, and sea level rise all hit record highs in 2023, according to a new report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Tuesday.
The report, titled “State of the Global Climate in 2023,” confirms that 2023 is the warmest year in the 174-year observational record, with global average near-surface temperatures 1.45 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900). ).
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “All the major indicators are sounding the alarm… Some records are not only at the top of the charts but even breaking them. And change is accelerating.”
“We have never been closer to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees Celsius lower limit on climate change, albeit temporarily. WMO is sounding a red alert to the world… The climate crisis is intensifying. The decisive challenge facing humanity,” WMO Secretary Chief Celeste Solo said.
“Climate change is about more than just temperature. What we witness in 2023, especially unprecedented ocean warming, glacier retreat and Antarctic sea ice loss, deserves special attention,” she added.
COP28 Chairman Sultan Al Jaber said the world is running out of time.
He stressed that to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, countries must increase their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), economy-wide emissions reductions, and investments in nature and adaptation.
Concentrations of three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – reached historically high levels observed, the report said.
The global average concentration of carbon dioxide in 2022 was 417.9 parts per million (ppm), 50% higher than in pre-industrial times, trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Real-time data shows that carbon dioxide concentrations will continue to rise in 2023, with global average sea levels hitting a record high.
The WMO said the rate of sea level rise has more than doubled over the past decade (2014 to 2023) since the first decade of satellite records (1993 to 2002).
Antarctic sea ice extent reached an absolute record low in February. The annual maximum extent was about 1 million square kilometers below the previous minimum record.
WMO noted that global reference glaciers for the hydrological year 2022-2023 experienced the largest ice loss on record (1950-2023) due to extreme negative mass balances in western North America and Europe.
Extreme weather and climate events have significant socioeconomic impacts on all inhabited continents, including major floods, tropical cyclones, extreme heat and drought, and associated wildfires, the report said.
The WMO report also cited data showing that the number of people with severe food insecurity has more than doubled globally, from 149 million people before the COVID-19 pandemic to 333 million in 2023 (78 countries monitored by the World Food Program ).
WFP global hunger levels remain unchanged in 2021-2022.
However, these are still well above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels: 9.2% of the global population (735.1 million people) were undernourished in 2022.
This situation is further exacerbated by protracted conflicts, economic recession and high food prices, as well as the high cost of agricultural inputs caused by ongoing widespread conflicts around the world and are at the root of higher levels of global food insecurity, while the effects of extreme climate and weather This insecurity has been exacerbated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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