Hottest decade

EACH decade since the 1990s has been warmer than the previous one, with 2011-2020 the hottest on record. There are no immediate signs of this trend reversing, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned. Its new report says rising concentration of greenhouse gases is fuelling record land and ocean temperatures and turbo-charging a dramatic acceleration in ice melting and sea-level rise. Glaciers around the world thinned by approximately 1 metre per year on an average in the previous decade. The Antarctic continental ice sheet lost nearly 75 per cent more ice between 2011 and 2020 than it did between 2001 and 2010. This means that there will be less fresh water available and low-lying coastal areas will be struck by rising tides.

The weather is becoming extreme, with a demonstrable impact on socio-economic development. The 2011-2020 decade was the first since 1950 in which there was not a single short-term event with 10,000 deaths or more. The number of casualties from extreme events may have declined as a result of improved early warning systems and disaster management, but economic losses have increased. Weather and climate-related events accounted for nearly 94 per cent of disaster-induced displacement recorded over the last decade. Heatwaves were responsible for the highest number of casualties, while tropical cyclones caused the most economic damage.

The WMO, a specialised agency of the UN, has called for much more ambitious climate action. Released at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, the report makes an appeal to cut greenhouse gas emissions as an overriding priority in order to prevent climate change from spiralling out of control. The commitments being sought are proving tough to be met. A rapid phase-out of fossil fuels is unlikely and an exponential increase in climate finance could take time.