The planet “on the brink” after a decade of record heat, warns the UN in a new report

This report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirms that 2023 was the hottest year on record, with an average global surface temperature of 1.45°C above the Earth’s baseline. pre-industrial era.

Records broken for ocean heat, sea level rise, glacier retreat… 2023 concluded the hottest decade on record, pushing the planet “on the edge of the abyss”, alerted the UN on Tuesday March 19.

A new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN agency, shows records have been broken, and in some cases even “pulverized”, in terms of greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, heat content and ocean acidification, sea level rise, the extent of the Antarctic sea ice and the retreat of glaciers.

“Fossil fuel pollution is causing unprecedented climate chaos,” alerted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “There is still time to throw a lifeline to people and the planet,” according to him, but we must act “NOW”.

The climate crisis leads to an “inequality crisis”

The report confirms that 2023 was the hottest year on record, with an average global surface temperature 1.45°C above the pre-industrial baseline.

“The climate crisis is THE defining challenge facing humanity and is inextricably intertwined with the inequality crisis, as evidenced by growing food insecurity, population displacement and biodiversity loss,” underlined WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo.

Heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires and the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones are wreaking havoc “misery and chaos”, disrupting the daily lives of millions of people and inflicting economic losses of several billion dollars, warns the WMO. It is also the hottest decade (2014-2023) ever observed, exceeding the 1850-1900 average by 1.20°C.

90% of oceans have experienced heat waves

The long-term rise in global temperature is due to the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which reached record levels in 2022. The arrival of the El Niño phenomenon in the middle of the he year 2023 has also contributed to the rapid rise in temperatures, according to the WMO.

“What we have witnessed in 2023, particularly the unprecedented warming of the oceans, the retreat of glaciers and the loss of sea ice in Antarctica, causes the greatest concern.”

Céleste Saulo, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization

Last year, nearly a third of the world’s oceans were in the grip of a marine heatwave. By the end of 2023, more than 90% of the planet’s oceans had experienced heat waves at some point during the year, according to the WMO.

The increasing frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves has profound negative impacts on marine ecosystems and coral reefs.

Glaciers are experiencing the greatest retreat since 1950

Furthermore, the average sea level on a global scale reached a record level in 2023, which reflects the continued warming of the oceans (thermal expansion) as well as the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.

Landmark glaciers across the planet have suffered the largest retreat on record since 1950, following extreme melting in western North America and Europe, according to preliminary data.

There is however “a glimmer of hope”, according to the WMO: renewable energy production capacities in 2023 increased by almost 50% year-on-year, the highest rate observed in the last two decades.