Temperatures and carbon dioxide levels hit new highs last year, according to a U.N. report detailing the dire state of the global climate.
The report, produced by the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, is full of grim superlatives. There is now more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than at any point in the past 800,000 years. The 10 hottest years on record all occurred within the last decade. Ocean heat reached a record high last year, as did global sea levels, which are now rising twice as fast as they were in the 1990s. And sea ice continues to dwindle — the last three years were the leanest on record in the Southern Ocean.
The cost to human society has been immense. Last year, fires, droughts, and storms uprooted hundreds of thousands of people, with the number displaced reaching a 16-year high. The report cites the lack of warning systems as a major issue. “Only half of all countries worldwide have adequate early warning systems,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. “This must change.”
The Paris Agreement set a goal of limiting warming to below 1.5 degrees C over the long term. Last year was the first to breach this threshold, measuring 1.55 degrees hotter than the preindustrial era. While recent modeling finds the world is likely to blow past the Paris goal, the WMO says it is still possible to keep warming in check.
“Our planet is issuing more distress signals — but this report shows that limiting long-term global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “Leaders must step up to make it happen — seizing the benefits of cheap, clean renewables for their people and economies.”
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