United Nations: 2023 will be the hottest year on record

LONDON – We may still have a full month to go until 2023, but the United Nations announced on Thursday that 2023 will be the hottest year on record.

“Although 2023 is not over yet, an interim report from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization confirms that it is set to be the warmest year on record, with global temperatures rising by 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to According to a statement issued by the World Meteorological Organization, published by the United Nations on Thursday.

The world is warming at an unprecedented pace, according to new climate data, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on leaders gathered for the COP28 conference – which opened in Dubai on Thursday – to get us out of the “deep problem”. “

“We are living through climate collapse in real time – and the impact is devastating,” he warned in a video statement accompanying the report’s launch on the first day of annual UN climate talks this year.

Guterres said the race is on to maintain the 1.5 degree limit agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015, but the challenges remain as strong as ever.

According to the new report, the maximum extent of Antarctic sea ice this year was 1 million square kilometers less than the previous record low, at the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Meanwhile, glaciers in western North America and the European Alps also experienced an “extreme melting season.”

“From the deadly Hurricane Danielle in Libya in September to devastating floods in the Horn of Africa after five consecutive seasons of drought and severe smoke pollution caused by wildfires in Canada, [the] The United Nations said in its statement that the report highlights the horrific effects of climate disturbances on life, health and livelihoods.

“These are more than just statistics,” said World Meteorological Organization President Petteri Taalas, who called for action to “reduce the risks of an increasingly inhospitable climate in this century and the centuries to come.”

However, the report noted that carbon dioxide levels are now 50% higher than in the pre-industrial era and that the long life of the gas “means that temperatures will continue to rise for many years to come.”

“The record global heat should send shivers down the spine of world leaders,” Guterres said. “It should prompt them to act.”

Guterres pointed to the current road map for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, urging governments to set “clear expectations” for the next round of climate action plans and invest in their implementation.

Meanwhile, with COP28 under way, the plan is to conduct the first-ever “global stocktaking” to assess collective progress in reducing emissions, step up adaptation efforts and support developing countries hit hard by a warming climate, according to the UN report. United nations

The UN Secretary-General said that countries must “go further and faster in protecting people from climate chaos.”

This includes ensuring that every person on Earth has early warnings of extreme weather by 2027 and operating a “Loss and Damage Fund” to help vulnerable people hit hard by floods, droughts and other climate disasters through “generous and early contributions” from wealthier countries. , He said.

The United Nations said: “Developed countries must fulfill their promise to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance, first pledged at COP15 in 2009, and double the amount of funding allocated to adaptation efforts.”

The UN Climate Change Conference will be held from Thursday until December 12 in Dubai. It is the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which entered into force in 1994. More than 60,000 delegates are expected to attend, Including UNFCCC member states, industry leaders, youth activists and representatives of indigenous communities.