WMO Issues Red Alert on Climate Change

SEAToday.com, Jakarta - The latest report from the UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), shows record-smashing rises in greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice cover, and glacier retreat in 2023.

The report, released on Tuesday (3/19), confirms that 2023 was the warmest year on record. 2023 has a global average near-surface temperature of 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels, a miss by a close margin from the 1.5°C threshold of the global warming commitment made in the Paris Agreement. It is expected that the warming will continue, as the change is “irreversible on scales of hundreds to thousands of years.”

Graphic of Global Mean Temperature Differences. Source: World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

WMO is issuing a red alert, said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. The reports indicated that disasters relating to climate change, such as heatwaves, floods, and wildfires, would upend millions of lives and result in billions of dollars in economic losses.

Renewable energy provides a glimmer of hope, but current climate action is deemed inadequate. It urged for an increase in climate financing, as it warns that “the cost of inaction is even higher”.