UN: Climate change records ‘smashed’ in 2023

United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its latest “State of the Global Climate” report that 2023 was the year when records for “greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice cover and glacier retreat” were “smashed.”

“Never have we been so close – albeit on a temporary basis at the moment – to the 1.5° C lower limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo commented, adding that the agency is “sounding the Red Alert” across the globe. The current global average near-surface temperature stands at 1.45 °Celsius.

Not only was 2023 the hottest year to date but the period between 2014 and 2023 was the hottest decade on record, WMO mentioned in its report. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the changes are “speeding up,” and added that certain records “aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting.”