UN warns ‘planet on the brink’ after warmest decade on record
- The UN’s World Meteorological Organization’s report confirmed preliminary data indicating that last year was by far the hottest year ever recorded
- One especially worrying finding was that marine heatwaves gripped nearly a third of the global ocean on an average day last year
Global heat records were “smashed” last year, the UN confirmed on Tuesday, with 2023 rounding out the hottest decade on record, as heatwaves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss.
The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization issued its annual State of the Climate report, confirming preliminary data indicating that last year was by far the hottest year ever recorded.
And it came at the end of “the warmest 10-year period on record”, the WMO report said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said the report showed “a planet on the brink”.
“Earth’s issuing a distress call,” he said, pointing out that “fossil fuel pollution is sending climate chaos off the charts”, and warning that “changes are speeding up”.
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The WMO said the average near-surface temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels last year – dangerously close to the critical 1.5-degree threshold that countries agreed to avoid passing in the 2015 Paris climate accords.