WMO Issues ‘Red Alert’ as Climate Records Are Broken Worldwide

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has issued a “red alert” as all major global climate records — greenhouse gas levels, near-surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, Antarctic sea ice cover, glacier retreat and sea level rise — were broken in 2023, a WMO press release said.

Floods, swiftly intensifying tropical cyclones, heat waves, drought and wildfires impacted millions of people around the world and caused billions in economic losses, the WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report said.

“The WMO community is sounding the Red Alert to the world,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO secretary-general, as Reuters reported. “What we witnessed in 2023, especially with the unprecedented ocean warmth, glacier retreat and Antarctic sea ice loss, is cause for particular concern.”

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The report confirmed that last year was the planet’s warmest on record, with a global average temperature of 1.45 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

“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,” Saulo said in the press release.

Nearly a third of the world’s ocean was experiencing a marine heat wave on the average day in 2023. By the latter part of the year, heat wave conditions had affected more than 90 percent of the ocean at some point, impacting ecosystems and food systems.

“Sirens are blaring across all major indicators… Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting. And changes are speeding-up,” said António Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, in a video message.

Preliminary data has shown that extreme ice melt in Europe and western North America has led to global reference glaciers suffering the largest ice loss since records began in 1950, the press release said.

The maximum Antarctic sea ice extent was one million square kilometers below the last record year — a deficit equivalent to an area the size of Germany and France combined.

“The climate crisis is THE defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis – as witnessed by growing food insecurity and population displacement, and biodiversity loss,” Saulo said in the press release.

According to the report, climate and weather extremes are aggravating factors in acute global food insecurity, which affected 333 million people last year in 78 countries monitored by the World Food Programme.

Displacement continued to be triggered by weather events in 2023, demonstrating how climate extremes can create novel protection risks and undermine resilience in the world’s most vulnerable populations.

The report did offer hope in terms of renewable energy generation to achieve decarbonization goals. Renewables capacity increased to 510 gigawatts last year — up nearly 50 percent from 2022 — the highest rate in the last two decades.

The Copenhagen Climate Ministerial on March 21 and 22 will bring together climate ministers and leaders from across the globe for their first meeting since COP28. One focus will be to enhance nations’ Nationally Determined Contributions before the deadline in February of 2025, as well to reach a financing agreement at COP29 to put climate plans into action.

“Climate Action is currently being hampered by a lack of capacity to deliver and use climate services to inform national mitigation and adaptation plans, especially in developing countries. We need to increase support for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to be able to provide information services to ensure the next generation of Nationally Determined Contributions are based on science,” Saulo said in the press release.