'Wake-up call': Planet sees hottest year since records began
The planet has seen its hottest year since records began 175 years age, experts say in a chilling warning.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) says climate change has now reached "new heights" with "irreversible consequences".
WMO's State of the Global Climate report confirmed 2024 was likely the first calendar year to be more than 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial era.
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Coal-fired power plants located in the Latrobe Valley. Paul Jones/Fairfax
It warned sea-level rises and ocean warming is now irreversible for hundreds of years.
"While a single year above 1.5 degrees of warming does not indicate that the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement are out of reach, it is a wake-up call that we are increasing the risks to our lives, economies and to the planet," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
In a series of grim statistics, it said the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air is at the highest levels in the last 800,000 years.
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Each of the past 10 years were individually the 10 warmest years on record and each of the past eight years has set a new record for ocean heat content.
The 18 lowest Arctic sea-ice extents on record were all in the past 18 years.
The rate of sea level rise has also doubled since satellite measurements began.
The record global temperatures seen in 2023 and broken in 2024 were mainly due to the ongoing rise in greenhouse gas emissions, coupled with a shift from a cooling La Niña to warming El Niño event, it said.
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An aerial view shows melting permafrost tundra on the Yukon Delta in Alaska. Getty
Several other factors may have contributed to the unexpectedly unusual temperature jumps.
"Data for 2024 show that our oceans continued to warm, and sea levels continued to rise," Saulo said.
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"The frozen parts of Earth's surface, known as the cryosphere, are melting at an alarming rate: glaciers continue to retreat, and Antarctic sea ice reached its second-lowest extent ever recorded.
"Meanwhile, extreme weather continues to have devastating consequences around the world."
Dr Linden Ashcroft Senior Lecturer in Climate Science and Science Communication at The University of Melbourne offered a blunt response over the "dire" report.
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"I'm not sure what researchers can say to this latest update that we haven't said a thousand times before," he said.
"Yes, we have now crossed even more devastating and globally significant thresholds.
"Yes, we are scared too. I've been providing comments like these for my entire career, and honestly, I'm not quite sure what to do next.
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Floods in Brisbane from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Getty
"Scream these findings from the tops of buildings? Write my comments in capitals? Saying all this while dancing on TikTok? I don't know.
"But unless we see real climate leadership from governments and businesses, I will save this response and send it through again next year."
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Professor Martina Linnenluecke, Director of the Centre for Climate Risk and Resilience in the UTS Business School at the University of Technology Sydney said the report "underscores the need for immediate and systemic action."
Emeritus Professor Ian Lowem Professor of Science, Technology and Society in the School of Natural Sciences at Griffith University called the report "truly alarming".
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