World 'way off track' in meeting climate change targets warns UN report
The world is 'way off track' in meeting targets set for slowing rising temperatures and tackling as a new UN report finds the planet is already 2F warmer. A damning report compiled by the UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) highlights 2019's increasing heat, accelerating sea level rises, and extreme weather. Last year was the second hottest year on record, with a global average temperature of almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels, the WMO said. The five years from 2015-2019 were the five warmest years on record and 2010-2019 was the hottest decade since records began in the 19th century. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said action was needed urgently, that there is no time to lose 'if we are to avert climate catastrophe.' The report found that each decade since the 1980s has been hotter than any preceding decade stretching back to 1850 when records began. The study had input from national meteorological services, international experts, scientific institutions and UN agencies. The trends found so far continue in 2020, with the report published in the wake of the hottest January on record and some parts of the northern hemisphere, including Europe, experiencing an unusually warm winter. Antarctica has reported new temperature highs, accompanied by large-scale ice melt and a fracturing glacier which will have 'repercussions for sea level rise'. Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization said at a briefing on the agency's annual State of the Global Climate 2019 report that carbon dioxide has contributed two-thirds of global warming. He said it has a 'lifetime is of several hundreds of years - so it's a problem that doesn't go away if you let these concentrations continue.' This year countries are expected, under the international Paris Agreement on climate change, to increase their action to tackle greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. In a foreword to the report, Guterres said: 'We are currently way off track to meeting the targets that the Paris Agreement calls for. 'This report outlines the latest science and illustrates the urgency for far-reaching climate action.' Alongside temperature increases, rainfall changes had a major impact on several countries and sea levels were rising at an increasing pace, exposing coastal areas and islands to a greater risk of flooding and submersion, he said. Greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere continued to rise in 2019, and carbon emissions from global fossil fuels grew 0.6 per cent last year. The report found record high temperatures from Australia to India, Japan, and Europe also impacted on people's health. There were two major heatwaves in Europe, in June and July, with new national temperature records set in the UK, where the thermometer hit 38.7C. There were also record temperatures in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. 'We have also broken records in carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide,' three greenhouse gases that cause global warming,' said Taalas. 'Given that greenhouse gas levels continue to increase, the warming will continue.' He added it was a matter of time before the world had a new record hot year - with predictions it will come within five years. There are also implications for disease - with dengue fever spreading to the point where half the world population is at risk of infection. World hunger is on the rise again, and an estimated 22 million people worldwide were forced to leave their homes by events such as floods and storms. Guterres, said: 'Greenhouse gas concentrations are at the highest levels in 3 million years - when the Earth's temperature was as much as three degrees hotter and sea levels some 15 meters higher. 'Ocean heat is at a record level, with temperatures rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs a second.' Taalas said the warming of the oceans has led to unusual tropical storms, including one in Mozambique in March 2019 that was the strongest in the Southern Hemisphere 'at least for the past hundred years.' He said there is also an estimate 'that sea water is the most acid in 25 million years ... and that's going to have negative impacts on the sea ecosystems.' Taalas also pointed to forest fires causing a lot of emissions, in the Arctic and Australia where 'they were, again, record breaking.' 'Smoke and pollutants from damaging fires in Australia circumnavigated the globe, causing a spike in carbon dioxide emissions,' he said. The contiguous US, excluding Alaska, Hawaii and other islands, experienced the highest 12-month rainfall on record from July 2018 to June 2019, and the country lost an estimated $20 billion (15 billion) from flooding last year. Drought or low rainfall hit many parts of the world, including Australia, which also saw its hottest year and hottest December on record and an exceptionally long and severe season of wildfires. Some parts of the Arctic also burned - an extremely rare occurrence - and sea ice in the region continued to decline. The Greenland ice sheet saw 329 billion tonnes of ice loss in 2019, well above the average for recent years, and glaciers continue to melt. Sea levels were at record highs in 2019, and at least 84 per cent of the oceans experienced at least one marine heatwave. Warming ocean temperatures, along with more acidic water and lower oxygen levels, are having an impact on marine wildlife and habitats such as coral. Many scientists say the use of fossil fuels, which are one of the main sources of greenhouse gases, need to end by the middle of the century if average temperatures on Earth are to rise no more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. So far 70 countries have announced they are committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, joined by cities, banks, businesses and others, but this still represents only one-quarter of global emissions. 'The largest emitters must commit or our efforts will be in vain,' Guterres said. In the coming months, the UN will be 'very actively engaging' Western Europe nations including the US, Canada, China, India, Russia and Japan. This is 'in order to have as many as possible, ideally all of them, committed to carbon neutrality in 2050,' the secretary-general said. Guterres pointed to 'good news' from the European Union, which unveiled plans last week for its first-ever climate law that would legally bind its executive arm to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. 'Let's hope that this example can be followed by all the others,' he said.