Guterres warned that the world is moving closer to a “climate catastrophe” in the wake of a “global energy system” that is broken, and called for the adoption of urgent measures for a transition to renewable energy that is “easy to achieve” and allow us to move away from the “dead end” that fossil fuels represent.
The WMO declared that human activity caused changes on a planetary scale: on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere, with dire and lasting ramifications for ecosystems. The report confirms that the last seven years (2015-2021) have been the seven warmest years on record.
La Niña-linked weather events in early and late 2021 had a cooling effect on global temperatures last year. But despite that, 2021 was one of the hottest years on record, with the average global temperature close to 1.11 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement seeks to limit global warming to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era. “Our climate is changing before our eyes,” said WMO chief Petteri Taalas.
“The heat trapped in the atmosphere from man-made greenhouse gases will warm the planet for many generations. Sea level rise, ocean acidification, and ocean heat content increase will continue for centuries unless mechanisms are invented to remove carbon from the atmosphere,” he added.
The 4 indicators that alarm the UN
1. Greenhouse gases
It reached a new world maximum in 2020, with 413.2 parts of carbon dioxide (CO2) per million (ppm) in the world, that is, 149% more than the pre-industrial level. The data indicates that it continued to increase in 2021 and early 2022, with the average monthly concentration in CO2 in Mona Loa in Hawaii reaching 416.45 ppm in April 2020, 419.05 ppm in April 2021 and 420.23 ppm in April 2022, according to the report.
2. Sea level
The global mean sea level reached a new maximum in 2021, after increasing an average of 4.5 millimeters per year during the period 2013-2021. “This figure, which is more than double that recorded between 1993 and 2002, is mainly due to a faster mass loss from ice sheets“, indicates the document.
3. Ocean temperatures
Ocean temperatures also hit a record high last year, and the heat “is penetrating deeper and deeper.” “The upper layer of the oceans, up to 2,000 meters deep, continued to warm in 2021 and everything indicates that it will continue to do so in the future, an irreversible change on time scales of hundreds to thousands of years,” the WMO declared.
4. Ocean acidification
The oceans absorb about 23% of the annual human-caused CO2 emissions that accumulate in the atmosphere. While this slows the rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, it reacts with seawater and leads to ocean acidification.
During this time, the report indicates that the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica was “unusually large and deep”, reaching a maximum of 24.8 million km2, an area equivalent to the size of Africa.
António Guterres proposed five actions to drive the renewable energy transition, including encouraging greater access to renewable energy technologies and supplies, tripling private and public investments in renewable energy, and ending fossil fuel subsidies.
“If we act together, the transformation of renewable energies can be the peace project of the 21st century”Guterres concluded.
Source: Ambito
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