Four key climate change records – glasshouse flatulency density , ocean - level rise , ocean high temperature , and sea acidification – were broken in 2021 , according to the latestState of the Global Climate news report .
Clearly , the state of the global climate is n’t look good . In fact , the raw story from the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) may be one of the clearest and most concise displays of our satellite ’s trouble seen in some metre .
On top of these four large platter ledgeman , the report highlights thesignificant uptick in extreme weather – including exceeding heatwaves , flooding , drought , and hurricane – that pass in 2021 , result in one million million of dollars of economic losses , increase concerns over solid food and body of water security , and a deepening amount of human suffering .
“ Extreme weather has the most quick impact on our daily spirit , " Professor Petteri Taalas , WMO Secretary - General , said in astatement . " Years of investment in catastrophe preparedness intend that we are better at saving life , though economical losses are surge . But much more penury to be done , as we are learn with the drought emergency flowering in the Horn of Africa , the late deadly flooding in South Africa and theextreme heat in India and Pakistan . "
The WMO report also confirm that the past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record , with the average global temperature of 2021 being just about 1.11 ° degree Celsius above pre - industrial levels .
“ It is just a matter of time before we see another warmest year on disc . Our climate is changing before our eyes , ” Professor Taalas said .
Here are a few of the key points and takeaways from the report :
Record gamy glasshouse flatulency concentrations
Greenhouse gas concentrations are officially confirmed to have reached a newglobal high in 2020 , with the absorption of carbon dioxide achieve 413.2 part per million ( ppm ) globally . This public figure thenproceeded to go upover the course of the following two years , reach 420.23 ppmin April 2022 .
This is the highest concentration of carbon dioxide in the air for the whole of human history;thelast timeglobal carbon dioxide levels were systematically above 400 ppm was around 4 million year ago , a period when the world was about 3 ° C ( 5.4 ° atomic number 9 ) hotter and ocean levels were much gamy than today .
Record ocean acidification
The report card says that it ’s likely the open ocean airfoil pH is now the last-place it has been for at least 26,000 years . A vast amount of human - driven CO2 in the atmosphere is soak up by the oceans . The discharge react with seawater , lead it to become more acidulent , threaten ecosystem , coastal protection , and food security . The decrease in ocean pH also shows that the sea are fall back their capability to absorb CO2from the atmosphere
Record high ocean levels
The global mean ocean horizontal surface reached anew record book highin 2021 , ascend an average of 4.5 mm per year over the period 2013 to 2021 , double the pace between 1993 and 2002 . This is bad news for coastal human settlements and increases vulnerability to tropic cyclone .
Record ocean hotness
All the information suggests that the upper 2,000 meters ( 6,561 feet ) of the ocean urine has feel astrong temperature increasein the past two decades and it is expected that it will continue to warm in the time to come . It ’s also clear that the affectionateness is now penetrating to ever deeper levels than before .
So , where do we go from here ?
Independent clime scientists remark on the news report have delineate it as “ terrific ” and “ grim meter reading , ” but also scarcely surprising given that the warning signal bells have beenringing for decades . Above all , the experts say it highlight the motivation todramatically up our effortsto low carbon copy emission through quickly ending fossil fuel use and slashing deforestation . If not , we can await to see the encroachment of climate change hitting harder , sooner , and more often .
“ The World Meteorological Organization State of the Global Climate in 2021 report is a terrific warning for human health and well - being . Without pressing action to lower carbon emissions , one thousand thousand of people , in the not far distant hereafter , will die , in the first place from hunger and from fighting over circumscribed resource , made scarcer by mood modification , “ said Professor Colin Butler of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University .
“ We have to make enormous progress towards net zero this decade if we are to have even a 50 percent prospect of limiting warming to 1.5 ° vitamin C . Net - zero by 2050 is too late to avoid 2 ° C heating with certainty , " added Professor Pete Strutton from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania .
