“We are issuing a red alert once again”

Saulo presented the conclusions of the latest report “State of the Climate 2024”. According to the publication prepared annually by WMO, from January to September 2024, the average global temperature was 1.54 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level (1850-1900), and the years 2015-2024 were the warmest decade in the history of measurements. The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 aims to prevent the average global temperature from increasing above 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era and to continue efforts to limit this increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

– The year 2024 will be the warmest in history, hotter even than 2023, which broke all previous records – said the head of the WMO at a press conference. – We are once again issuing a red alert, (…) this is another SOS for the climate – she added.

– Record rainfall and floods, rapid intensification of tropical cyclones, deadly heat, unprecedented droughts and catastrophic fires that we have seen in various parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of what awaits us in the future – said Saulo.

As explained by the head of WMO, the fact that the average global temperature measured in 2024 was over 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the reference level does not mean that the latter goal has not been achieved – because individual years should not be looked at separately, but on the average over the last 20 years. Using this calculation method, the temperature records recorded in the last two years raised this average to 1.3 degrees Celsius above the reference level.

– Global temperature anomalies recorded on daily, monthly and annual scales fluctuate significantly, in part due to natural phenomena such as El Nino and La Nina. They should not be equated with the long-term temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement, she emphasized.

But Saulo added that “every fraction of a degree of warming counts” and “we must act as quickly as possible” and “not abandon the 1.5 degree target” because extreme weather events triggered by climate change lead to huge human and economic losses. .

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– Temperatures are only part of the picture. Climate change occurs almost every day before our eyes in the form of extreme weather phenomena. The unusual amount of rain that fell in Spain recently has raised awareness of how much additional water a warmer atmosphere can hold, said the head of the WMO.

The COP29 climate summit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will last until November 22. Poland will be represented by President Andrzej Duda.