‘China warming up faster than others’
The climate crisis is pushing up temperatures in China at a rate faster than the global average and triggering extreme weather events more frequently, a new government report said this week.
From 1951 to 2020, the average annual surface temperature in China showed a significant upward trend, with a warming rate of 0.26 degrees for every 10 years, it said.
“The Blue Book on Climate Change” published this week by China’s National Climate Centre said that the last 20 years have been the warmest since the beginning of the 20th century. It also said that 9 out of the 10 warmest years since 1901 have been recorded in the last 21 years.
Glaciers in China, the source of many transnational rivers, are also showing an “accelerated melting trend”, the report said, adding that China is a “sensitive area”, which has been significantly affected by climate crisis.
“From 1961 to 2020, China’s climate risk index showed an upward trend, and from 1991 to 2020, the average climate risk index (6.8) in China increased by 58% from the 1961-90 average (4.3),” the report added.
China has been witnessing higher daytime temperatures this July was hotter than previous years and the second-hottest since 1961 - while precipitation nationwide in July increased by 3.2% compared with previous years, the Sixth Tone news website said in its report, quoting the Blue Book.
Sea levels off China’s coastal areas are rising as well at a worrying pace. The Chinese report coincided with a report released by Greenpeace East Asia on Thursday, which said “scorching temperatures are becoming much more frequent in cities across East Asia”.