Climate change has caused extreme weather and record heat in 2024, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today, with the UN secretary-general urging the world to abandon “the path to disaster”.

The past year is expected to be the warmest on record, the WMO said. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions reached new records.

“Climate change is unfolding before our eyes almost daily in the form of an increased frequency and impact of extreme weather events,” noted WCO Secretary-General Celeste Saulio.

“This year we have witnessed record rainfall and floods and a terrible loss of life in many countries, which has devastated communities on all continents,” she added.

“Tropical cyclones have taken a terrible human and economic toll, most recently in the French overseas territory of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean,” the WMO also points out.

“An intense heat,” according to the same source, “swept dozens of countries, with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius repeatedly. The forest fires caused damage.”

In his New Year’s message, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of “a decade of killer heat”, referring to the record temperatures recorded during that time.

“We must abandon this path to destruction and we have no time to lose,” he added.

Faced with “climate collapse”, he called on “countries to lead the world on a safer path by significantly reducing emissions and supporting the transition to a renewable future”.

The World Meteorological Organization is expected to release its accurate global temperature record for 2024 in January, followed by its full report on the state of the global climate in 2024 in March.