Climate change continues to accelerate in 2022: report

GENEVA: Climate change continued its strides in 2022 as droughts, floods and heat waves hit communities and cost billions of dollars on every continent, said the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) annual report.

Antarctic sea ice has fallen to its lowest level on record and some European glaciers have stopped melting, Xinhua news agency said in a report.

For global temperatures, the years 2015–2022 were the eight warmest years on record. The report says the melting of glaciers and sea level rise, which reached record levels in 2022, will continue for thousands of years.

“While greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and climate change continues, populations around the world are being severely affected by extreme weather and climate events,” said Peteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General.

Throughout the year, hazardous climate and weather-related events fueled new population displacements and worsened the situation for many of the 95 million people already displaced at the start of the year, according to the report.

The new WMO report is accompanied by a story map, which provides information on the impact of climate change indicators for policy makers, and which also shows how better technology can make the transition to renewable energy cheaper and faster than ever before. Makes it accessible

“We need accelerated climate action combined with deep, sharp cuts in emissions to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. We need massive investment in adaptation and resilience, especially for the most vulnerable countries and communities who have done the least to build up to the crisis, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.