Climate change: The direst alert yet

WMO report shows world is perilously close to the tipping point of climate catastrophe.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)’s latest report, “State of the Global Climate”, released on Tuesday, has issued the reddest alert so far about climate change and its consequences. The report has confirmed the fears and apprehensions about the world’s worsening climate profile and has presented data to prove its findings. It shows that 2023 was the hottest year on record, and it also marked the warmest decade in history. There is “high probability” that this year will also be a record-breaking year. The average near-surface temperature in 2023 was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which is very close to the 1.5-degree threshold set in the Paris Climate Agreement. Everything concerned with the weather is sending out alarm signals, and the report has highlighted many of them. It is a reminder of the fact that all the climate goals agreed upon by countries are in jeopardy. 

The report has cited the unprecedented increases in the release of greenhouse gases, the rise in land and water temperatures and sea levels, and the melting of glaciers on the mountains and the ice caps in the sea. The past three years have accounted for 10% of the overall rise in sea levels in 30 years. Marine heat waves affected nearly a third of the global oceans in 2023. Glaciers worldwide suffered unprecedented ice loss, and the Alps in Switzerland lost 10% of its glacier volume in just two years. Antarctica is losing about 150 billion tonnes of ice mass every year. Heat waves, droughts, excessive and unseasonal rains and flooding have become the norm in all parts of the world. The displacement of populations, biodiversity loss, food insecurity on a global scale, and new health risks are obvious consequences of the climate changes taking place everywhere.

All lives and lifestyles are conditioned by the climate, geography and other features of the earth and its environment. The changes that happen in the environment will disrupt life of all kinds on earth and may make it even unsustainable. The loss of glacier ice, the rise in sea levels and extreme weather events are not far away phenomena. They happen close to our lives. The world may be reaching the tipping point, and many of the changes that have happened may be irreversible. Many decades of climate talks have not yielded results and promises and commitments have remained unimplemented. Amidst the thick clouds of despair, the report gives a glimmer of hope too. It says the surge in renewable energy generation last year is a good sign, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remains hopeful that humanity still has the opportunity to avert a catastrophe.