2023 Breaks Climate Records and Has Significant Impacts

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) stated 2023 broke climate records, with extreme weather events leaving devastating effects on the planet.

This was confirmed by the organization's interim report of the Global Climate that 2023 was nominated to be the warmest year ever, as evidenced by data available in this year's temperatures, rising by about 1.40 °C.

As the records indicate, the past 9 years from 2015 to 2023 are the warmest, The heat is likely to continue to rise in 2024 due to the El Niño phenomenon, which leads to high temperatures which appeared during the spring in the northern hemisphere in 2023 and developed rapidly during the summer, This is because the El Niño phenomenon usually has the greatest impact on global temperatures after reaching its peak.

Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, said that greenhouse gases had set record levels, sea level had risen at record levels and Antarctic sea ice had fallen at record levels.

These were not just statistics, and we risk losing the race to save glaciers and rein in sea-level rise. We cannot return to the climate of the 20^th century, but we must act now to reduce the risk of a climate that will become even harsher in this century and the centuries to come.

He mentioned that Extreme weather events were eradicating life forms and destroying livelihoods day by day, underscoring the imperative need to ensure the protection of all through early warning services.

Carbon dioxide levels increased by 50% compared to pre-industrial times, trapping heat in the atmosphere. The long period of keeping CO2 in the atmosphere cause temperatures to rise for many years to come.

According to the organization's report, in the past two years, Switzerland's glaciers have lost nearly 10 % of their remaining size.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said: “This year has seen communities around the world pounded by fires, floods, and searing temperatures. Record global heating should send shivers down the spines of world leaders. And it should trigger them to act. We have the road map to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C and avoid the worst of climate chaos.But we need leaders to fire the starting gun at COP28 [twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)] on a race to keep the 1.5°C limit alive:  By setting clear expectations for the next round of climate action plans and committing to the partnerships and finance to make them possible; by committing to triple renewables and double energy efficiency; and committing to phase out fossil fuels”.