Climate change brought extreme weather, heat in 2024: UN

The year 2024 will go down in history as the hottest ever recorded, the United Nations’ weather agency confirmed Monday, marking a decade of unprecedented heat that underscores the growing toll of climate change.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that global greenhouse gas emissions reached new record highs, ensuring a future of escalating temperatures.

People move a cart with a woman and a child through a flooded street, amid severe flooding in the Fazilpur area of Feni, Bangladesh, August 26, 2024. Reuters

“Climate change plays out before our eyes on an almost daily basis,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said, citing widespread extreme weather events and devastating consequences across continents.

From record-breaking floods to scorching heatwaves, the impacts of climate change in 2024 were inescapable.

The year saw temperatures surpassing 50°C (122°F) in multiple countries, while tropical cyclones left devastation in their wake, including Cyclone Chido’s destruction in Mayotte in December.

A man walks along the Neelankarai beach during high tide before cyclone Fengal approaches in Chennai, India November 30, 2024. Reuters

“Wildfires wreaked havoc, and intense heat took a terrible toll on lives and economies,” Saulo noted, pointing to the urgent need for global cooperation to mitigate these crises.

The 2015 Paris Agreement sought to limit global warming to below 2°C, with an aspirational target of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

However, the WMO reported that the January-September mean surface air temperature for 2024 was 1.54°C above the pre-industrial average, putting this year firmly ahead of the 1.45°C record set in 2023.

Experts estimate that by 2030, up to 118 million Africans already living in poverty will be exposed to drought, floods and intense heat. AFP

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, reflecting on the past decade of record heat, called 2024 a stark warning of “climate breakdown in real-time.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a press conference during the COP29 UN climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan Nov. 21. Reuters

In a New Year message, Guterres urged nations to cut emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable energy drastically. “We must exit this road to ruin,” he said. “It is essential, and it is possible.”

The WMO’s full State of the Global Climate 2024 report, slated for March, will offer deeper insights into this critical year for the planet.