2023 warmest year on record (WMO)

Tunis: The year 2023 was the warmest year in 174 years, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said in its annual report on the state of the global climate, released Tuesday, sounding a "global red alert". The WMO report confirmed that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with the global average near-surface temperature at 1.45 °Celsius (with a margin of uncertainty of ± 0.12 °C) above the pre-industrial baseline. It was the warmest ten-year period on record. 'Never have we been so close - albeit on a temporary basis at the moment - to the 1.5° C lower limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change.' said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. 'The WMO community is sounding the Red Alert to the world,' she added. Record-breaking temperatures in Tunis last summer Extreme heat affected many parts of the world. Some of the most significant were in southern Europe and North Africa, especially in the second half of July. Temperatures in Italy reached 48.2 °C, and record-high temperatures were reported in T unis (Tunisia) 49.0 °C, Agadir (Morocco) 50.4 °C and Algiers (Algeria) 49.2 °C. The WMO also said records were also broken for ocean heat, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice loss and glacier retreat. Global average sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) were at a record high from April onwards, with the records in July, August and September broken by a particularly wide margin. The Mediterranean Sea experienced near complete coverage of strong and severe marine heatwaves for the twelfth consecutive year, reported the World Meteorological Organisation. In 2023, global mean sea level reached a record high in the satellite record (since 1993), reflecting continued ocean warming (thermal expansion) as well as the melting of glaciers and ice sheets. The rate of global mean sea level rise in the past ten years (2014-2023) is more than twice the rate of sea level rise in the first decade of the satellite record (1993-2002), said the report. Furthermore, Antarctic sea-ice extent reached an absolute record low for the sa tellite era (since 1979) in February 2023 and remained at record low for the time of year from June till early November. The annual maximum in September was 16.96 million km2, roughly 1.5 million km2 below the 1991-2020 average and 1 million km2 below the previous record low maximum. Glaciers suffered the largest loss of ice on record since 1950. In Switzerland, glaciers have lost 10% of their remaining volume in the last two years. 'Sirens are blaring across all major indicators... Some records aren't just chart-topping, they're chart-busting. And changes are speeding-up,' said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Renewable energies, the only hope For the WMO, renewable energies remain a glimmer for hope, calling for the entry into force of the Nationally Determined Contributions in a context where greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. The organisation also stressed the need to increase investment in the fight against climate change six-fold to reach $9,000 billion by 2030. The aim is to stay within the 1.5° Celsius target set by the Paris Agreement. "The cost of inaction is higher than the cost of climate action," warns the WMO. Over the period 2025-2100, if nothing is done to stay within the Paris Agreement target, the total cost of inaction will be $1,266 trillion - more than 12 times the world's current annual GDP. According to the WMO, global climate-related financial flows almost doubled in 2021-2022 compared to 2019-2020, but represent only 1% of global GDP. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse