UN climate report says 2023 was 'off the charts'

US News

by Aaron Parker, Fox Weather

While Earth experienced its hottest year on record in 2023, records were also broken for six other climate change metrics, according to a UN report released Tuesday.

the State of the Global Climate Report 2023 The publication by the World Meteorological Organization – the United Nations climate agency – confirmed what had already been widely reported.

However, the World Meteorological Organization said that 2023 is also the peak of the planet's warmest decadal period on record.

According to the report, the world's average near-surface temperature in 2023 was 1.45 degrees Celsius (2.61 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the pre-industrial baseline.

“Never before have we been so close – even tentatively at the moment – to the 1.5°C (2.7°F) threshold set in the Paris Agreement on climate change,” Celeste Saullo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said in a statement on climate change. Climate change”. a report.

“The WMO community is sounding a red alert to the world.”

In a tweet about the report, the World Meteorological Organization used a spiral graph to show how much global temperatures have risen since the 19th century.

“2023 has given new meaning to the phrase ‘off the charts,'” the scientists wrote in the tweet.

“Changes are accelerating”

Global temperature wasn't the only record to be broken in 2023.

According to the report, records for greenhouse gases, ocean heat and sea level rise all reached record levels last year.

The extent of Antarctic sea ice has also reached a record low, while Arctic sea ice remains well below normal.

The Greenland ice sheet has continued to lose mass after the world's largest island experienced its warmest summer on record.

A group of glaciers around the world, which is used as a reference, also saw the largest loss of ice on record.

“Sirens are sounding across all major indices… some records are not just topping the charts, they are beating them. Changes are accelerating,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement about the report.

Renewable energy also set a record

Scientists said renewable energy generation – solar, wind and water – will set records in 2023 as well, with additional capacities increasing by 50% from 2022 for a total of 510 gigawatts.

Scientists said renewable energy has become the focus of climate action because of its ability to achieve goals aimed at reducing the amount of greenhouse gases.

The countries have set a goal of tripling global renewable energy capacity to 11,000 gigawatts by 2030.