‘A year of extremes’: What World Meteorological Organization’s 2022 report says about the state of global climate

The last eight years were the hottest on record worldwide, a new report by a United Nations agency has found. Published on Friday (21 April), the State of Global Climate 2022 report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) makes some worrying revelations about record-high temperatures, melting glaciers and rising pollution.“While greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and the climate continues to change, populations worldwide continue to be gravely impacted by extreme weather and climate events,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement.Omar Baddour, head of the Climate Monitoring and Policy Division at the WMO, told CNN “2022 was a year of extremes for the planet – and this continues the trend set in previous years”.What have the findings of WMO’s report on the state of global climate revealed about last year and the effect of climate change on the planet? Let’s take a closer look.Heatwave effectThe report says that Europe witnessed at least 15,000 deaths last year due to intense heatwaves."Europe experienced numerous heatwaves, with sig­nificant heatwaves occurring in each of the three summer months. During the summer, around 4,600 deaths in Spain, 4,500 in Germany, 2,800 in the United Kingdom (among those aged 65 and older), 2,800 in France and 1,000 in Portugal were associated with the unusual heat,” the 2022 State of Global Climate report said.The United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and New Zealand were among the countries that recorded their hottest years, as per Al Jazeera.

China experienced its longest and most extensive heatwave last year.

“In 2022, continuous drought in East Africa, record-breaking rainfall in Pakistan, and record-breaking heatwaves in China and Europe affected tens of millions, drove food insecurity, boosted mass migration, and cost billions of dollars in loss and damage,” Taalas wrote in the report’s foreword.[caption id="attachment_12489052" align="alignnone" width="640"] China experienced its longest and most extensive heatwave last year. Reuters File Photo[/caption]Many western and southern American states were also hit by severe drought last year.ALSO READ: ‘Climate Time Bomb is Ticking’: The UN climate report and its findings explainedFloods, rising sea levelsFloods in Pakistan, caused by record rainfall, left vast areas of the country inundated underwater, leading to $30 billion in damages. More than 1,700 people were killed and nearly 8 million were displaced due to the flooding.According to the findings, melting glaciers and warming oceans triggered global sea levels to jump to the highest on record last year. Global sea levels have hiked at more than double the rate they did in the first decade of the satellite record from 1993 to 2002.Ocean heat levels broke records, with almost 60 per cent experiencing at least one marine heatwave.Melting glaciers and high ocean temperatures accounted for an average increase in sea levels of 4.62mm a year from 2013 to 2022, Al Jazeera cited the WMO report as saying.“Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts,” the report said. Around 6 per cent of the glacier ice volume of the Swiss Alps was lost between 2021 and 2022.Rising planet-heating pollution, other findingsAs per the latest report, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – greenhouse gases majorly contributing to global warming – reached record levels in 2021.2022 was the fifth or sixth warmest year on record with the mean global temperature climbing to 1.15 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. This is quite close to the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold that the world is seeking to avoid.

This happened despite three consecutive years of the La Niña climate event, which has a global cooling impact.

These extreme weather events, prompted by climate change, has already displaced 95 million people globally. “Most people displaced in climate- or weather-related events remained within the territories where they resided, while in some situations people were forced to flee across international borders in search of safety and assistance,” Indian Express cited the report as saying.[caption id="attachment_12489062" align="alignnone" width="640"] Nearly 8 million were displaced due to the flooding in Pakistan last year. Reuters File Photo[/caption]“The droughts and level of heatwaves that we saw throughout 2022 were quite remarkable,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, was quoted as saying by CNN. “This is really a wake up call that climate change isn’t a future problem, it is a current problem. And we need to adapt as quickly as possible”.With the prediction of warming El Niño making a comeback later in the year, climate scientists have warned that 2023 and 2024 can further smash high-temperature records.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.