The new annual State of the Climate report published on March 19 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, shows that 2023 was the hottest year on record in the past 10 years.
The State of Global Climate Report published that the global average near-surface temperature, calculated by averaging the surface temperature of sea and land, was 1.45 degrees celsius (with a margin of uncertainty of ± 0.12 degree celsius) above the pre-industrial baseline. It was the warmest ten-year period on record.
“Sirens are blaring across all major indicators... Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting. And changes are speeding up,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Climate in 2023 saw "off the charts" records for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice cover and glacier retreat, according to the WMO report.
According to the report, over 90 percent of the ocean had experienced heatwave conditions at some point during last year.
The global set of reference glaciers suffered the largest loss of ice on record (since 1950), driven by extreme melt in both western North America and Europe, according to preliminary data.
Antarctic sea-ice extent reached an absolute record low for the satellite era (since 1979) in February 2023 and remained at record low from June till early November. The annual maximum in September was 16.96 million km2, roughly 1.5 million km2 below the 1991-2020 average and 1 million km2 below the previous record low maximum.
The report also shows a continued increase in concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
This coincided with extreme weather and climate events, including major floods, tropical cyclones, extreme heat and drought, and associated wildfires.
“Never have we been so close – albeit on a temporary basis at the moment – to the 1.5° C lower limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change”, said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. “The WMO community is sounding the Red Alert to the world,” she added.
The past year also saw an increase in renewable capacity additions by almost 50 percent from 2022, for a total of 510 gigawatts (GW)
“Climate action is currently being hampered by a lack of capacity to deliver and use climate services to inform national mitigation and adaptation plans, especially in developing countries. We need to increase support for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to be able to provide information services to ensure the next generation of Nationally Determined Contributions are based on science,” said Saulo.
The Copenhagen Climate Ministerial, taking place on March 21-22, will prioritize accelerating climate action by enhancing nations' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are action plans for reducing emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change, before the February 2025 deadline.
In addition, the leaders intend to come to a financial deal at COP29 to implement national programmes.
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