Global temperatures “broke” heat records last year as heat waves ravaged oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning that 2024 is likely to be even hotter.

The UN Weather and Climate Agency’s annual climate situation report confirmed earlier data that 2023 is the warmest year ever recorded. Last year ended with the “warmest 10-year period on record,” according to the World Meteorological Organization, and even higher temperatures are expected.

“There is a high probability that 2024 will break 2023’s record again,” Omar Baddur, head of WMO’s climate monitoring department, told reporters.

Reacting to the report, UN chief Antonio Guterres said it showed “the planet is on the brink of a precipice”.

“The world is sending a distress call,” he said in his video message, noting that “fossil fuel pollution is damaging the climate” and warning that “change is accelerating.”

WMO said the average surface temperature last year was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels; This is dangerously close to the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees that countries agreed to avoid in the 2015 Paris climate accords.

Red alert

“I am now warning about the state of the climate,” Saulo told reporters, adding that “2023 will set new records for every climate indicator.”

The organization said many records were “broken” and the figures “give ominous new meaning to the phrase ‘off the charts’.”

“What we see in 2023 is alarming, especially regarding unprecedented ocean warming, glacier retreat, and sea ice loss in Antarctica,” Saulo said.

One particularly troubling finding was that marine heatwaves covered nearly a third of the world’s oceans on an average day last year. By the end of 2023, more than 90 percent of the oceans will experience heat conditions at some point in the year, WMO said.

He warned that more frequent and intense marine heatwaves “will have profound negative consequences for marine ecosystems and coral reefs.” Meanwhile, major glaciers around the world have experienced the greatest loss of ice since records began in 1950, “due to extreme melting in both western North America and Europe.”

In Switzerland, where the WMO is located, Alpine glaciers have lost 10 percent of their remaining volume in the last two years alone. The extent of sea ice in Antarctica is also the “lowest on record”, WMO said.

sea ​​level rise

According to the report, the maximum area at the end of the southern winter was nearly one million square kilometers below the previous record year; this was equivalent to the size of France and Germany combined. Ocean warming and the rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets pushed sea levels last year to the highest level since satellite records began in 1993, WMO said.

The agency emphasized that the rise in global mean sea level in the last decade (2014-2023) has more than doubled compared to the first decade of satellite records. Severe climate change is wreaking havoc around the world, causing extreme weather events, floods and droughts, leading to displacement, leading to biodiversity loss and food insecurity, he said.

“The climate crisis is the defining challenge facing humanity and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis,” Saulo said.

A ray of hope

The World Meteorological Organization highlighted a “silver lining”: the rapid growth of renewable energy production. Last year, renewable energy capacity (mainly solar, wind and hydropower) increased by almost 50 percent compared to 2022. The report sparked a wave of reaction and calls for urgent action.

“Our only response should be to stop burning fossil fuels so that the damage can be limited,” said Martin Siegert, professor of earth sciences at the University of Exeter.

Geoffrey Kargel, senior scientist at the Planetary Sciences Institute, emphasized that severe climate change “does not mean the inevitable death of civilization.” He said the outcome “depends on whether people and governments change their behavior.”

Saulo acknowledged that the cost of climate action may seem high.

“But the cost of climate inaction is much higher,” he said. “The worst thing is to do nothing.” Guterres also emphasized that there was still time to “avoid the worst climate chaos.” “But leaders must step up and take action now.”