Hottest decade

UN chief sees world “on the brink of the abyss”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is extremely alarmed by the latest climate data.(Bild: AFP)

Climate change has brought us sad records in recent years. According to the UN, the last ten years have been the hottest since temperature records began. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that global warming was bringing the planet to the "edge of the abyss".

"The earth is sending out a cry for help." The continued use of fossil fuels is leading to unprecedented "climate chaos", Guterres continued.

The occasion was the presentation of the annual report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The massive effects of global warming had been felt on all continents in the previous year, explained the WMO experts, who declared a "red alert". 

"It's about much more than temperatures"
"Climate change is about much more than temperatures. What we have seen in 2023, in particular the unprecedented warming of the oceans, the retreat of glaciers and the loss of Antarctic sea ice, is a particular cause for concern," said WMO chief Celeste Saulo. 

The WMO confirmed its preliminary estimates: The globally averaged mean temperature in 2023 was around 1.45 degrees above pre-industrialization levels (1850-1900). Before that, 2016 was the warmest year on record, at around plus 1.3 degrees. The European climate change service Copernicus had indicated warming of plus 1.48 degrees in 2023. The WMO considers data sets from Copernicus and several other renowned institutes together. As a result, its report on climate change is particularly broad-based and is regarded as a global guideline. 

Extremely high temperatures and long periods of drought also increase the risk of forest fires.(Bild: AP)

Accelerated rise in average sea level
Last year, the global average sea level was higher than at any time since satellite measurements began in 1993. Over the past ten years, the sea level has risen twice as fast as in the first ten years since satellite measurements began. The causes are both the melting of glaciers and ice and the thermal expansion of warmer water. 

Renewables as a "glimmer of hope"
Karsten Haustein from the Institute of Meteorology at the University of Leipzig criticized the fact that the public debate in Germany is dominated by the impression that the consequences of climate change can somehow be overcome by technology. There is a lack of will to take the climate crisis seriously. However, the experts noted the global increase in renewable energy as a "glimmer of hope".