Coastal erosion is just one impact of rising sea levels – Image: David Gray/AFP
As the current US administration seeks to play down and even question human-caused climate change, new findings paint a very different picture.
Last year was the hottest on record, with research from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlighting how the “clear signs of human-induced climate change reached new heights in 2024.”
Over the past 12 months, the global average air temperature was 1.55 degrees Celsius (2.79 Fahrenheit) above that in the years from 1850 to 1900, the period before humans started burning fossil fuels like coal and oil on an industrial scale. It broke the previous temperature record set in 2023.
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, governments pledged to limit global warming to well below 2 C above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to keep temperature increase under 1.5 C.
Because average temperatures are measured over decades as opposed to single years, the findings in the WMO’s annual State of the Climate Report do not mean the Paris target has been overshot. But it is getting close.
The report states that long-term global warming is at currently between 1.34 and 1.41 C.
Researchers found concentrations of the planet-heating gas carbon dioxide (CO2), which is emitted through the fossil fuels we burn to drive industry, heat our homes and run our cars, to be higher than at any point in the past 2 million years.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo called the new study “a wake-up call that we are increasing the risks to our lives, economies and to the planet.”
Parts of Spain were hit by heavy flooding in 2024 – Image: Angel Martinez/Getty Images
Extreme weather, she added, continues to have “devastating consequences around the world,” with only half of all countries currently equipped with adequate early warning systems that help protect lives and property. “This must change,” said Saulo.
In separate research published late last year, the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a UK-based academic initiative, found climate change had “contributed to the deaths of at least 3,700 people and the displacement of millions” in the 26 weather events they analyzed in 2024.
But as there were almost 200 more episodes of extreme flooding, drought or storms that they did not study, they concluded the actual number killed could well be “in the tens, or hundreds of thousands.”
How fossil fuels are showing up in our oceans
The WMO report, which is based on scientific contributions from different expert bodies, also cited a shift from a cooling La Nina to warming El Nino weather event as a contributing factor in the 2024 record. However, the authors stressed that air temperatures are just one part of a bigger picture.
With 90% of excess atmospheric heat absorbed into our seas, 2024 witnessed the highest levels of ocean warming during a 65-year observational window.
Such heating impacts marine ecosystems, causing a decline in biodiversity and reduction in the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon. Equally, warmer oceans are linked to tropical storms and higher levels of acidification, which in turn harms marine habitats and thereby the fishing industry.
Soaring heat is just one face of our changing climate – Image: Ted Aljibe/AFP
Because warmer water expands and needs more space, it is also a factor in rising sea levels, which the report said “has cascading damaging impacts on coastal ecosystems and infrastructure.” Rising water can also lead to damage from flooding and groundwater contamination with salt from the ocean.
“Our planet is issuing more distress signals,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement. “But this report shows that limiting long-term global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible.”
He said it was up to leaders to “step up to make it happen” by “seizing the benefits of cheap, clean renewables for their people and economies.”
Is the world embracing renewable energy?
Renewables generated a record 30% of global electricity in 2023, driven by growth in solar and wind. geothermal energy.
Even the US, which under President Donald Trump is moving to roll back climate protection regulations in favor of greater fossil fuel extraction, is experiencing continued growth in the solar sector. Last year saw an increase in solar installation and battery storage infrastructure meaning the sun can now cover more than 7% of the country’s electricity needs.
The cost of clean energy has also fallen dramatically over the past decade.
Speaking in conjunction with a cost analysis published last autumn, Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), said the cost of clean energy had come down so much that “prices for renewables are no excuse anymore, on the contrary.”
Still, despite this continued momentum in the shift to renewables, scientists stress the need for much greater and quicker action.
In a statement responding to the WMO report, Stephen Belcher, chief scientist with the UK’s national weather and climate service, the Met Office, said the “latest planetary health check tells us that earth is profoundly ill.”
“Without serious efforts to heed the warnings, extreme weather events — such as drought, heatwaves and flooding — will continue to worsen.” (DW.com/NAN 19-03-25)
