The UN chief has warned that climate impacts are entering “uncharted territory of disruption” as a multi-agency report lays out the scale of the crisis.
This scientific union The report, coordinated by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO), warns that “without ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change will be devastating”.
It details the continued rise in levels of greenhouse gases — mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels — and rising global temperatures, as well as the damaging climate-driven floods, droughts and heatwaves already occurring around the world.
Shocking
The report comes as Pakistan is suffering from catastrophic flooding, as well as extreme heat and drought in parts of the world, including Europe and the UK, with temperatures climbing above 40C for the first time on record.
The report warns that there is a huge gap between countries’ commitments under the international Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and their efforts to achieve actions to achieve this goal.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report showed the world was “off track”, with climate action stalled, failure to help vulnerable people adapt to a changing world and climate disasters costing 200 million a day USD (£170 million).
“Floods, droughts, heatwaves, extreme storms and wildfires are getting worse and worse, breaking records with unprecedented frequency,” he warned.
rich
He pointed to heatwaves in Europe, floods in Pakistan and prolonged severe droughts in parts of China, Africa and the US, and said: “The new scale of these disasters is not natural. They are the price of humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels.
“This year’s joint scientific report shows climate impacts are heading into uncharted territory, but every year we redouble our efforts to tackle this fossil fuel addiction, even as symptoms worsen rapidly,” he said.
“The current fossil fuel melee must end now. This is the recipe for permanent climate chaos and suffering.”
Mr. Guterres also called for more funding from rich countries and development banks to help developing countries and vulnerable communities adapt to climate change and disasters.
vulnerable
This scientific union The report shows:
– Levels of the warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise.
– In early 2022, global carbon dioxide emissions were above pre-pandemic levels, following a large but temporary drop in pollution following worldwide lockdowns.
– Greenhouse gases are causing temperatures to rise, and the past seven years have been the warmest on record.
– Over the next five years, there is a 48% chance that the global average annual temperature will be 1.5°C warmer than the pre-industrial period—temporarily exceeding the stricter of the two control temperature thresholds set out in the Paris Agreement.
