‘Earth is sending us distress signal’: UN chief warns past eight years have been hottest on record
- The global temperature is estimated to be 1.15°C higher than between 1850 and 1900
- Means target of limiting global warming to 1.5C is now ‘barely within reach’
- Earth temperature enters dangerous territory, UK hits 40C for first time
The past eight years have been the hottest on record and should be seen as a “distress signal” from planet Earth, the UN Secretary-General warned yesterday.
According to a report by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the global temperature is now estimated to be about 1.15C higher than between 1850 and 1900.
That means the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C is now “barely within reach” amid warnings of rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions. The annual State of the Global Climate Report added that this year alone could become the fifth warmest on record.
Speaking ahead of the Cop27 summit in Egypt, Antonio Guterres said: “We must respond to the planet’s distress signal with action – ambitious, credible climate action. Cop27 has to be the place – and now has to be the time.”
The past eight years have been the hottest on record and should be seen as a “distress signal” from planet Earth, the UN Secretary-General warned yesterday
Earth’s temperature enters dangerous territory, with Britain hitting 40C for the first time.
Mr Guterres said: “As COP27 begins, our planet is broadcasting a distress signal. The latest State of the Global Climate Report is a chronicle of climate chaos.’
WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C was in danger of failing. He said: “The greater the warming, the worse the impact.
“We now have such high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that the lower 1.5°C of the Paris Agreement is barely within reach.
The WMO added in a statement that “a lack of action has led to warnings that the 1.5 degree target is slipping”.
At the summit, nations are attempting to take action to reduce greenhouse gases produced by burning oil, coal, gas crops and deforestation. But the three main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, have all risen to record levels, the report said.
At current rates, the earth will warm by 2.6-2.8°C by 2100, UN scientists warn. The WMO report shows that 2022 is likely to be the fifth or sixth warmest year on record.
It would be warmer if it weren’t for a weather phenomenon called La Nina, which has been cooling global temperatures for the past two years.
The report details the devastation of glaciers, stating that glaciers in the European Alps have lost an average of three to four meters of ice thickness across the mountain range – significantly more than in the previous record year of 2003.
Mr Guterres said: “As COP27 begins, our planet is broadcasting a distress signal. The latest State of the Global Climate report is a chronicle of climate chaos.
According to the report, glacier ice in Switzerland fell by more than a third between 2001 and 2022. Since January 2020, sea levels have risen nearly 10 mm (0.4 in) to a new record high this year.
Ocean heat hit record levels in 2021, the most recent assessment year, while Arctic sea ice extent this year was below long-term averages for most of the year. Sea ice in Antarctica fell to its lowest level on record in February.
Leading climate scientist Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, Chair of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, said: “One detail sums it up: Switzerland has lost more than a third of its glacier volume since 2001.
“How much more warning do they need before the countries of the world move from talk and promises to real action?”