World ‘off track’ on climate targets as warming signs increase

THE world is “way off track” for meeting targets to curb rising temperatures as the signs of climate change increase, United Nations experts have warned.

A report compiled by the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) highlights 2019’s increasing heat, accelerating sea level rises, and extreme weather – and the impact they have on people and wildlife.

Last year was the second-hottest year on record for the world, with a global average temperature of 1.1C above pre-industrial levels, the WMO’s statement on the state of the global climate in 2019 confirms.

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.

Each decade since the 1980s has been hotter than any preceding decade stretching back to 1850, according to the report, which has input from national meteorological services, international experts, scientific institutions and UN agencies.

The trends continue in 2020, with the report published in the wake of the hottest January on record globally and some parts of the northern hemisphere 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”, WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said.

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, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: “We are currently way off track to meeting either the 1.5C or 2C targets that the Paris Agreement calls for.

“This report outlines the latest science and illustrates the urgency for far-reaching climate action.”

Prof Taalas said: “Given that greenhouse gas levels continue to increase, the warming will continue.”

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.