There is a “high chance” 2024 will again see very high temperatures, as last year just completed a decade of record high temperatures, pushing the planet “on the brink of destruction”, warned the UN today.

“2023 set new records for every indicator,” said World Meteorological Organization (OMM/WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulos, presenting the climate report.

New World Meteorological Organization reporta UN agency, shows that temperature records were broken last year, and in some cases soared, for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, heat content (the energy absorbed and stored) and ocean acidification, sea ​​level rise, Antarctic sea ice extent and glacier retreat.

“We can’t say for sure but I would say that there is a strong possibility that 2024 will break the 2023 record again,” said Omar Badour, head of the World Meteorological Organization’s climate monitoring service, during a press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the annual climate report.

The decade just passed is the warmest on recordcausing unprecedented ice melt in 2023, the UN warned today.

“Climate changes are not just limited to temperatures. It is what we have seen in 2023, notably the unprecedented warming of the oceans, the retreat of glaciers and the loss of sea ice extent in Antarctica, that are of greatest concern,” said the OMM secretary-general, commenting on the publication of the annual report on climate.

The planet is ‘on the brink of destruction’ while “fossil fuel pollution is causing an unprecedented climate chaos”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a video message, while estimating that “it is still time to throw a lifeline to the populations and the planet”.

The report confirms that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with an average land surface temperature 1.45°C above the pre-industrial reference level.

“Every fraction of a degree of global warming has an impact on the future of life on Earth,” the UN chief warned.

“Red Alert”

The climate crisis is the defining challenge facing humanity and is “inextricably linked to the crisis of inequalities, as evidenced by growing food insecurity and biodiversity loss,” said the OMM secretary-general.

Heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires and a rapid increase in tropical cyclones are sowing “misery and chaos”, upsetting the daily lives of millions of people and causing economic losses of several billion dollars, the OMM warns.

After all, this is the warmest decade (2014-2023) ever observed, surpassing the 1850-1990 average of 1.20 degrees Celsius.

The increase in global temperature in the long term is due to the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which reached record levels in 2022.

The arrival of El Niño in mid-2023 also contributed to the rapid rise in temperatures, according to the OMM.

“El Nino is weakening but it’s here to stay. For the next three months we expect temperatures higher than normal for the season in most parts of the planet,” warned Saulo.

“We have never been so close — albeit temporarily at present — to the lower limit set at 1.5°C in the Paris Agreement on climate change.”

“The global meteorological community is warning the whole world and sounding the alarm: we are on red alert,” he said.

“Oceans and Glaciers”

Last year, nearly a third of all oceans were under the influence of a sea heat wave. By the end of 2023, more than 90% of the world’s oceans had experienced heat waves at some point during the year, according to the OMM.

An increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heat waves has profound negative effects on marine ecosystems and coral reefs.

Also, global mean sea level reached a record high in 2023, reflecting continued ocean warming (thermal expansion) as well as melting glaciers and ice sheets.

A worrying sign is that the rate of increase of this average level in the last decade (2014-2023) is more than double that of the first decade (1993-2002).

Glaciers across the globe have suffered their biggest retreat on record since 1950, following extreme melting in western North America and Europe, according to preliminary data.

“There is, however, ‘a glimmer of hope’, according to the OMM: renewable energy production potential in 2023 has increased by almost 50% year-on-year, the highest rate seen in two decades. For this reason, said Saulo, investing in the energy transition in Africa can benefit not only Africa but the whole world. So, in my opinion, here we have a solution.”