Climate: 2022, the year of all records in five infographics

The records follow one another, and look alike. On the planet, carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase, contributing to global warming. In mid-January, the World Meteorological Organization confirmed it: the last eight years have been the hottest on record. And in 2022, scientists calculated that the global average temperature had increased by 1.15°C compared to the pre-industrial period, that is, before humanity introduced massive amounts of gas to greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. Heat waves, drought, floods… The extreme events brought about by this climate change will be more frequent and more intense as the surface of the globe warms up, warns the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

These disasters have a human cost (in 2022, 11,000 people were victims), and financial. The German reinsurer Munich Re has estimated the cost of material damage resulting from these climatic events at 270 billion dollars. A finding that should push us to act urgently to reduce our CO2 emissions and strengthen our adaptation measures.