This year is set to be the hottest on record, with global temperatures to the end of October about 1.4°C higher than the pre-industrial average, the UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said today.
The Paris Agreement seeks to limit global warming to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial averages, and preferably to 1.5°C.
"We are living through climate collapse in real time", UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said. The WMO's report was released to coincide with the opening day of the UN Cop 28 climate summit in Dubai, UAE. Guterres urged world leaders to commit to action, including tripling renewable energy, pledging climate finance and phasing out fossil fuels "with a clear timeframe".
Temperature and climate records have been "shattered" this year, the WMO found. Sea surface temperatures and ocean heat content hit new highs, while Antarctic sea ice was at a record low and Arctic sea ice remained "well below normal". Global mean sea levels in 2023 reached the highest on record since satellite recording started in 1993. The rate of sea level rise over 2013-22 is more than twice the rate between 1993 and 2002, the WMO noted.
The past nine years, including 2015-23, are the warmest on record, while this year, June, July, August, September and October "each surpassed the previous record for the respective month by a wide margin", the WMO found. The El Nino weather pattern which emerged earlier this year "is likely to further fuel the heat in 2024", the organisation said.
Concentrations of key greenhouse gases also reached new highs in 2022 and levels continue to increase, the WMO added.
"Extreme weather and climate events had major impacts on all inhabited continents", the WMO said. It referenced devastating flooding in Libya, the protracted tropical cyclone Freddy in February and March — which affected east Africa — drought in central and south America and wildfires in Canada and Hawaii.
"We cannot return to the climate of the 20th century, but we must act now to limit the risks of an increasingly inhospitable climate in this and the coming centuries," WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said.
