The signs of climate change broke new records again last year, reports the UN Meteorological Organization.
The signs of climate change were strong last year, says the World Meteorological Institute WMO in a recent release in your report (you switch to another service).
According to the UN Meteorological Organization, the past eight years have been the warmest in the history of measurements on Earth. At the same time, the concentrations of greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, have been at a record high. In addition, the glaciers are melting at a record pace.
– Regarding the glaciers, we have already lost the game because the carbon dioxide emissions are so huge, said the WMO Secretary General at the press conference Petteri Taalas.
In the Swiss Alps, the glaciers shrank by more than six percent, which is more than ever in the history of measurements. In the winter, reported how many European countries set record temperatures in the middle of winter at the turn of the year. Even in the mountain regions, the heat melted the snow.
Some of the world’s glaciers lost more than 1.3 meters of their thickness per year.
– This is serious. The melting of glaciers affects the supply of drinking water and the irrigation of crops. When rivers dry up, transport routes are lost, Taalas said.
After a winter with little snow, the countries of Central Europe have had to draw up plans to have enough water.
The Antarctic ice cover was at its lowest ever, and so were parts of Europe’s glaciers. Carbon dioxide levels have been 149 percent higher than in the pre-industrial era.
As a result of the melting of the glaciers, the sea level has risen at an annual rate of just under five millimeters from 2013 to 2022. That is twice as much as in the previous decade.
Something positive too
The results of the UN climate report are depressing. But it is good to remember that the fight against climate change is progressing and it has become more economically advantageous.
The climate is not warming by 3-5 degrees Celsius, as was predicted in 2014, but it is warming by 2.5-3 degrees.
And this would still need to be tweaked by a degree, one and a half, Taalas estimates. In the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the goal of global warming was set at 1.5 degrees.
32 countries in the world have reduced their climate emissions and still managed to grow their economy.
– Today, almost all world leaders talk about climate change as a serious problem and have started to take steps to improve the situation, unlike 10 years ago.
Sources: AFP, Reuters