UN: Critical climate indicators broke records in 2021

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Several global indicators of the climate issue set records in 2021, from rising oceans to amounts of heat-trapping emissions in the sky, according to a UN assessment

According to the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), these are clear indicators of humanity's impact on the earth, which is having long-term consequences. Extreme weather, which the WMO described as the "day-to-day face of the climate catastrophe," took a high toll on human lives and caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, according to the agency.

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Droughts and floods caused food price increases, which will be compounded in 2022. According to the World Meteorological Organization's State of the Global Climate in 2021 report, the last seven years have been the hottest on record.

“Today’s State of the Climate report is a dismal litany of humanity’s failure to tackle climate disruption. Fossil fuels are a dead end – environmentally and economically,” said Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN.

WMO: world's oceans absorb more than 90% of trapped heat 

Prof. Petteri Taalas, the WMO secretary-general, said: "Our climate is changing before our eyes. Human-induced greenhouse gases will warm the planet for many generations to come. Some glaciers have reached the point of no return and this will have long-term repercussions in a world in which more than 2 billion people already experience water stress."

The world's oceans absorb more than 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases, and 2021 established a new high.

The ocean's increasing temperature, which is irreversible across durations ranging from centuries to millennia, has been especially powerful in the last 20 years. According to the WMO, much of the ocean will see at least one significant marine heatwave in 2021.

In addition, the global sea level reached a new high in 2021. It has risen by 10cm since 1993, and the rate is accelerating due to melting ice sheets and glaciers, as well as thermal expansion of the ocean.

Danger on residents

According to the WMO, these record numbers endanger hundreds of millions of coastal residents and exacerbate the damage caused by storms and cyclones.

The oceans absorb over a quarter of CO2 emissions, but this leads them to become more acidic. According to the WMO, this endangers shell-forming species and corals, as well as food security, tourism, and coastal protection. The oceans are currently more acidic than they have been in at least 26,000 years.

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CO2 and methane, a potent greenhouse gas, are at all-time highs, with CO2 concentrations 50 percent higher than before the Industrial Revolution, which triggered widespread usage of fossil fuels.

In 2021, the global temperature was 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, edging closer to the 1.5 degree Celsius target agreed upon by the world's nations to avert the worst climate impacts.