Geneva – From mountain peaks to ocean depths, climate change continued its advance in 2022, according to the latest annual report from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released today.
Droughts, floods and heatwaves affected communities on every continent and cost many billions of dollars. Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts.
The report 2022 focuses on key climate indicators which are greenhouse gases, temperatures, sea level rise, ocean heat and acidification, sea ice and glaciers. It also highlights the impacts of climate change and extreme weather:
• Drought, floods and heatwaves affect large parts of the world and the costs are rising
• Global mean temperatures for the past eight years have been the highest on record
• Sea level and ocean heat are at record levels – and this trend will continue for many centuries
• Antarctic sea ice falls to lowest extent on record
• Europe shatters records for glacier melt
The report shows the planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere caused by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
For global temperature, the years 2015-2022 were the eight warmest on record despite the cooling impact of a La Niña event for the past three years. Melting of glaciers and sea level rise which again reached record levels in 2022 will continue to up to thousands of years.
While greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and the climate continues to change, populations worldwide continue to be gravely impacted by extreme weather and climate events.
For example, there was continuous drought in East Africa, record breaking rainfall in Pakistan and record-breaking heatwaves in China and Europe affected tens of millions, drove food insecurity, boosted mass migration, and cost billions of dollars in loss and damage.
In addition to climate indicators, the report focuses on impacts. Rising undernourishment has been exacerbated by the compounded effects of hydrometeorological hazards and covid, as well as of protracted conflicts and violence.
Throughout the year, hazardous climate and weather-related events drove new population displacement and worsened conditions for many of the 95 million people already living in displacement at the beginning of the year, according to the report.
The report puts a spotlight on ecosystems and the environment and shows how climate change is affecting recurring events in nature, such as when trees blossom, or birds migrate.
Global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15°C above the 1850-1900 average. The years 2015 to 2022 were the eight warmest in the instrumental record back to 1850. 2022 was the fifth or sixth warmest year.
This was despite three consecutive years of a cooling La Niña, such a triple-dip La Niña has happened only three times in the past 50 years.
Concentrations of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide reached record observed highs in 2021, the latest year for which consolidated global values are available (1984-2021).
The annual increase in methane concentration from 2020 to 2021 was the highest on record. Real-time data from specific locations show levels of the three greenhouse gases continued to increase in 2022.
