World Climate Conference COP28 - UN report: turbo-charged climate change in the past decade
In the warmest decade in recorded history from 2011 to 2020, climate change accelerated rapidly, according to a UN report. More and more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused "a turbocharged, dramatic acceleration of ice melt and sea level rise", as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced at the United Nations World Climate Conference in Dubai.
According to the report, the global average temperature in the past decade was 1.1 degrees above the values of the late 19th century. This phase of incipient industrialization is regarded as the reference era for the global goal of keeping the average temperature from rising by more than 1.5 degrees.
Gigantic ice melt accelerates sea level rise
Between 2011 and 2020, Greenland lost around 251 gigatons (billion tons) of ice every year. In Antarctica, an average of 143 gigatons of continental ice melted away every year - the loss in the South Pole region was therefore 75 percent higher than the melting rate between 2001 and 2010.
As a result, sea level rise accelerated to 4.5 millimetres per year over the past decade. Between 2001 and 2010, it was only 2.9 millimeters per year.
"We are losing the race to save our melting glaciers and ice sheets," warned WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. He therefore called for the reduction of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to be given top priority.
Better early warning systems increase chances of survival in the event of disasters
Taalas also pointed out that extreme weather events are increasing as a result of climate change. According to the WMO, disasters such as droughts, heatwaves, floods, tropical cyclones and forest fires have led to setbacks in the fight against hunger and poverty over the past decade.
However, the UN meteorologists also observed positive trends: thanks to improved early warning systems, the number of deaths from disasters has fallen. And the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has shrunk thanks to restrictions on harmful chemicals.
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Source: www.stern.de
