2024 set to shatter global heat records, warns WMO chief
Celeste Saulo, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), announced on Monday that the year 2024 is projected to be the warmest in recorded history due to an unprecedented series of high monthly average temperatures across the globe. The COP29 climate summit began in Baku on Monday.
At the outset of the COP29 climate summit, Celeste Saulo presented the findings from the "State of the Climate 2024" report. Research by experts indicates that as of January 2024, the average global temperature was approximately 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (years 1850-1900), and the years 2015-2024 have been the warmest decade in recorded history.
Back in 2015, under the Paris Agreement, it was agreed that nations would make every effort to prevent the average global temperature from rising more than 2°C compared to the pre-industrial era. Countries committed to continuing efforts to limit this increase to 1.5°C.
The hottest year in history. "We declare a red alert"
The year 2024 will be the hottest in history, even surpassing 2023, which broke all previous records. WMO chief Celeste Saulo said she was sounding the "red alert." "It's another SOS for the planet" - said the head of the WMO at a press conference.
- The record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought and raging wildfires that we have seen in different parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of our future - added Saulo.
The average global temperature measured in 2024 was more than 1.5°C above the reference level, which, according to the head of the WMO, does not mean that one of the goals was not achieved. Saulo emphasized on Monday that individual years should not be viewed in isolation but rather as part of the entire average over the past 20 years.
If this approach were applied, the temperature records noted in the last two years would have raised this average to 1.3°C above the reference level.
- Recorded global temperature anomalies at daily, monthly and annual timescales are prone to large variations, partly because of natural phenomenon such as El Niño and La Niña. They should not be equated to the long-term temperature goal set in the Paris Agreement, which refers to global temperature levels sustained as an average over decades - emphasized Celeste Saulo.
- Temperatures are only part of the picture. Climate change plays out before our eyes on an almost daily basis in the form of extreme weather. This year’s record-breaking rainfall and flooding events and terrible loss of life... (had caused) heartbreak to communities on every continent - summarized the head of the WMO.
The climate summit at COP29 in Baku will continue until November 22.
