2023 will most likely be the hottest year since records began
According to the UN, 2023 will most likely be the hottest year since records began. According to the preliminary climate status report published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Thursday, the global average temperature was already around 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of October. The difference to the previous record years of 2016 and 2020 is already so great that the months of November and December will not change the global heat record.
In order to avert climate change with catastrophic consequences, the global community agreed in 2015 in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to well below two degrees, but preferably to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. According to a current UN forecast, however, the Earth is currently heading towards a dangerous warming of 2.5 to 2.9 degrees by 2100 due to further increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the WMO, which will present its final climate status report for 2023 at the beginning of 2024, the past nine years have been the nine warmest since records began. The year 2023 alone has already broken a whole series of climate records, explained the WMO. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, global temperatures and sea level rise have reached new highs, said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. Antarctic sea ice had in turn fallen to an all-time low.
This development is "more than just statistics", said Taalas. "We risk losing the race to save our glaciers and stem the rise in sea levels." Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts and heavy rainfall have also left "a trail of devastation and despair" on the planet this year.
Source: www.ntv.de
