The year 2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record, hotter than 2023, which smashed all previous records.

This is according to a recent update of the State of Climate Report, released on the first day of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation in atmospheric science and meteorology.

According to the WMO, the period 2015-2024, will be the warmest ten years on record; chatecterized by the loss of ice from glaciers, sea-level rise, increased ocean heating and extreme weather events.

The January – September 2024 global mean surface air temperature was 1.54 °C (with a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13°C) above the pre-industrial average, boosted by a warming El Niño event, according to an analysis of six international datasets used by WMO.

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said “climate catastrophe is hammering health, widening inequalities, harming sustainable development and rocking the foundations of peace. The vulnerable are hardest hit.” It highlights that the ambitions of the Paris Agreement are in great peril.

Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General, said “as monthly and annual warming temporarily surpass 1.5°C, it is important to emphasize that this does NOT mean that we have failed to meet Paris Agreement goal to keep the long- term global average surface temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the warming to 1.5°C.”

She also said recorded global temperature anomalies at daily, monthly and annual timescales are prone to large variations, partly because of natural phenomenon such as El Niño and La Niña. “They should not be equated to the long-term temperature goal set in the Paris Agreement, which refers to global temperature levels sustained as an average over decades. However, it is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. Whether it is at a level below or above 1.5°C of warming, every additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts and risks” said Saulo.

For 16 consecutive months (June 2023 to September 2024), the global mean temperature likely exceeded anything recorded before, and often by a wide margin, according to WMO’s consolidated analysis of the datasets.

Greenhouse Gases reached record observed levels in 2023. Real time data indicate that they continued to rise in 2024. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased from around 278 ppm in 1750 to 420 ppm in 2023, an increase of 51%. This traps heat and causes temperatures to rise.

Ocean heat content in 2023 was the highest on record and preliminary data show 2024 has continued at comparable levels. Ocean warming rates show a particularly strong increase in the past two decades. From 2005 to 2023, the ocean absorbed on average approximately 3.1 million terawatt-hours (TWh) of heat each year. This is more than 18 times the world’s energy consumption in 2023.Glacier loss is worsening.

In 2023, glaciers lost a record 1.2-meter water equivalent of ice, about five times the amount of water in the Dead Sea. It was the largest loss since measurements began in 1953 and was due to extreme melting in North America and Europe.

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