EBN- This year will be the hottest in recorded history after an “extraordinary” November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row, Europe’s climate monitor said Wednesday, piling pressure on the COP28 talks to act on climate change.
There had been warnings this year could take the title of hottest year from 2016, particularly after records toppled in September and October. But this marks the first time it has been confirmed.
The world is heating up at an unprecedented pace, according to new climate data, and U.N. chief António Guterres called on leaders who are gathered for the COP28 conference, which opened in Dubai on Thursday, to get us out of “deep trouble.”
“We are living through climate collapse in real time. And the impact is devastating,” he warned in a video statement accompanying the launch of the report on the first day of this year’s annual U.N. climate talks.
Guterres said that the race is on to keep alive the 1.5-degree limit agreed by world leaders in Paris 2015. But the challenges remain as potent as ever.
According to the new report, the maximum Antarctic Sea ice extent for the year was one million square kilometres. This is less than the previous record low, at the end of southern hemisphere winter.
Meanwhile, glaciers in western North America and the European Alps also experienced an “extreme melt season.”
