2024 declared hottest year on record as COP29 opens with climate action plea

2024 declared hottest year on record as COP29 opens with climate action plea

The year 2024 is set to be the hottest on record, following a prolonged period of soaring global temperatures, as revealed in a Monday report on the World Meteorological Organization’s website.

Issued on the opening day of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the WMO’s State of the Climate 2024 Update highlights the accelerating pace of climate change and its profound impact on societies and ecosystems worldwide.

PUNCH Online reports that COP29 began on Monday, 11 November, and will end on 22 November.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell addressed COP29’s official opening today, making an urgent call for global cooperation on climate change.

“We mustn’t let 1.5 slip out of reach. Even as temperatures rise, the implementation of our agreements must claw them back,” said Stiell.

“Clean energy and infrastructure investment will reach two trillion dollars in 2024, almost double that of fossil fuels. The shift to clean energy and climate resilience will not be stopped.

“Our job is to accelerate this and ensure its immense benefits are shared by all countries and all people,” according to the UNCC website on Monday.

Record-breaking Temperatures and Climate Shifts

The report notes that from January to September 2024, the global average temperature was 1.54°C above pre-industrial levels, driven partly by an intense El Niño event.

PUNCH Online reports that an El Niño event is a natural climate phenomenon that occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean rise significantly above average, disrupting global weather patterns.

Its counterpart, La Niña, occurs when sea surface temperatures in the same region are cooler than average.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo emphasised the serious consequences of even small increases in global temperatures: “Every fraction of a degree of warming matters.

“Whether below or above 1.5°C, each additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts, and risks.”

Saulo added that the recent surge in global temperatures underscores the urgency of international climate commitments, despite occasional exceedances of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold.

She urged viewing these fluctuations as products of short-term climate phenomena: “Recorded global temperature anomalies on daily, monthly, and annual timescales are prone to large variations, partly due to natural phenomena 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 sustained global temperature levels averaged over decades.”

Devastating Impacts

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the catastrophic implications of these shifts: “Climate catastrophe is hammering health, widening inequalities, harming sustainable development, and shaking the foundations of peace. The vulnerable are hardest hit.”

The past decade, from 2015 to 2024, has been the hottest on record, marked by accelerating glacier loss, rising ocean heat, and an increase in extreme weather events.

These occurrences have led to unprecedented economic and human costs globally, underscoring the call for urgent climate action.

Ocean Warming and Rising Sea Levels

In 2024, ocean heat content continued to break records, with data indicating comparable levels to 2023.

“The ocean absorbed, on average, approximately 3.1 million terawatt-hours (TWh) of heat each year between 2005 and 2023,” the report noted.

As the oceans absorb about 90% of the accumulated heat in the Earth’s system, the WMO cautions that ocean warming is irreversible on timescales ranging from centuries to millennia.

Meanwhile, global sea levels are rising at an accelerated rate, spurred by melting ice and the thermal expansion of seawater.

From 2014 to 2023, global sea levels rose by an average of 4.77 mm annually, more than doubling the rate recorded from 1993 to 2002.

Shrinking Glaciers and Sea Ice Decline

The report highlights severe glacier loss, with glaciers losing a record 1.2 metres of water equivalent to ice in 2023.

For instance, Switzerland’s glaciers lost approximately 10% of their remaining volume over two consecutive years.

Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice levels are also declining, with Antarctic extent at the second-lowest on record since satellite tracking began in 1979.

Escalating Climate Disasters

Saulo described the intensifying effects of climate change in 2024, including “record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought, and raging wildfires.”

She added that the frequency and severity of these events have only increased, with global adaptation efforts struggling to keep pace.

“We urgently need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen our monitoring and understanding of our changing climate.

“We must enhance support for climate adaptation through climate information services and Early Warnings for All,” Saulo stated.

Renewed Calls for Action

The WMO report stresses the urgent need to limit warming and strengthen global climate resilience, with Saulo underscoring the importance of climate monitoring in achieving the Paris Agreement goals:

“To support this, the WMO has established an international team of experts, with initial indications that long-term global warming is likely to be around 1.3°C compared to the 1850-1900 baseline.”

The report concludes with a stark message for policymakers: the warming trend not only poses an existential threat to global stability but also presents a critical threat to human well-being.

As the world grapples with the effects of the hottest decade on record, the WMO calls for accelerated action to reduce greenhouse gases, bolster climate adaptation efforts, and prepare communities for the challenges of a rapidly warming planet.

PUNCH Online reports that the WMO, a UN agency, has issued annual State of the Global Climate reports since 1993 and has provided preliminary data for UNFCCC COP sessions since 2016. The 2024 report offers an update on key climate indicators.

The report, based on global data from WMO members and experts, uses six datasets for surface air temperature. WMO experts are developing IPCC-aligned metrics to consistently track global temperature increases.