The State of the Climate 2024 update which is authored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a guiding report for the world leaders in attendance at COP29 in Azerbaijan, warns that the impacts of climate change are accelerating rapidly.
Key findings show record-high rise in global mean temperatures, increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, shrinking glaciers and ice-sheets, and rise in number and intensity of extreme weather events worldwide.
Here are the key takeaways from the “State of the Climate 2024” report:
- 2024 is on track to be the hottest year ever, with temperatures 1.54°C above pre-industrial levels. This continues the trend of the past decade being the warmest in 175 year-observational records.
- CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide have hit record highs in 2023. A key driver of climate change, CO₂ is now 420 ppm, a 51% increase since 1750.
- Both Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are far below average. Glaciers lost ice equivalent to five times the Dead Sea’s water.
- Sea levels are rising faster, at 4.77 mm/year since 2014, driven by melting and ocean warming.
- The ocean absorbed heat equal to 18 times the world’s total energy consumption, setting a new high. Ocean warming is irreversible on human timescales.
- Record-breaking events like floods, droughts, and wildfires are displacing millions worldwide. Wildfires displaced 45,000 in Canada and
240,000 were displaced in the USA. Floods in the Sahel region affected 716,473 people.- 2023 was the driest year for global rivers in three decades.
- Fossil fuel remains the largest source of human emissions.
- Climate models indicate global warming up to 2023 is at about 1.3 °C higher relative to the 1850-1900 baseline.
Record-breaking Mean Temperatures and Greenhouse Gases Concentrations
In 2024, global mean temperatures from January to September were 1.54°C above pre-industrial levels. This places 2024 on track to be the hottest year on record beating the average global temperature measures of 2023.
Copernicus Climate Change Service has already called it; 2024 is “virtually certain” to become the hottest year on record.
Data projections show that 2024 will be the first year on record to hit past the 1.5 °C Paris Agreement threshold. 2023 came close at 1.48 °C rise in mean temperatures above pre-industrial levels.
Though, decades of temperature measures are needed to call mean temperatures have breached the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 °C. Nonetheless, rising mean temperatures in yearly measures show a trend that’s unprecedented and making international organizations like WMO issue Red Alert and call for urgent global action.
According to the WMO, the past ten years, from 2015 to 2024, now represent the warmest decade in the 175-year observational record. These alarming temperatures were boosted by a strong El Niño effect in 2023.
The atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases continued to rise. Three of the most important of these, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide concentrations, hit record highs in 2023.
WMO states that carbon dioxide levels have reached 420 parts per million (ppm), which represents a staggering 51% increase from pre-industrial levels. CO2 levels in 1750 were at 278 ppm and have seen an average growth rate of 2.4 ppm per year since.
Methane, another potent greenhouse gas, was measured at 729 ppb during pre-industrial times. It now has climbed to 1934 parts per billion (ppb).
The atmospheric levels for nitrous oxide have risen to 336.9 ppb from 270 ppb in 1750, up by 24%.
Fossil fuels remain the largest source of human emission of greenhouse house.
All of this has resulted in global mean temperatures to rise at about 1.3 °C higher relative to the 1850-1900 baseline, according to WMO models approaches.
Melting Ice and Glaciers: Warming Planet’s Ripple Effects
The effects of global warming are visible in polar ice loss. In 2024, both Arctic and Antarctic sea ice reached significantly lower-than-average extents, according to WMO statistics.
Arctic sea ice reached its minimum in September at 4.3 million square kilometers. This marked the seventh-lowest Arctic sea ice extent on record.
Meanwhile the Antarctic saw its sea ice minimum in February at just 2.0 million square kilometers, the second-lowest (after 2023) in satellite record (1979-2024).
Glacier loss is accelerating at a rapid rate. The year 2023 marked the highest annual ice loss on record since 1950.
Globally, glaciers lost roughly five times the amount of water in the Dead Sea.
For instance, Switzerland has lost an estimated 10% of their remaining glacial volume over just two years says WMO.
Oceans Absorbing Heat and Rising Sea Level
The world’s oceans absorb around 90% of the heat accumulated in the Earth system. They are now warmer than ever.
Basic science teaches us that when water warms it expands. The thermal expansion of water when combined with the melting of glaciers and ice sheets contributes to sea level rise.
According to WMO, ocean heat content hit a record high in 2023 and continues to rise in 2024 at a comparable rate. In 2023 the oceans absorbed an estimated 3.1 million terawatt-hours (TWh) of heat—equivalent to 18 times the world’s total energy consumption.
The sea levels are up at an accelerated rate of 4.77 mm per year from 2014 to 2023. This rate of rise is more than double the annual rate observed from the period of 1993 to 2002 (2.13mm/yr).
The effects are evident. The coastal communities are facing the heightened risks of flooding, erosion, and more frequent storms.
Extreme Weather Events
This year has brought a surge of extreme weather events. Millions worldwide are affected. East Africa endured devastating floods from March to May. This resulted in displacing 500,000 people and causing widespread damage to property and ecosystems.
In Brazil, heavy rains in May triggered floods in Rio Grande do Sul counting for over 180 deaths and affecting 2.3 million residents.
Meanwhile, drought in Mexico led to a 20-40% drop in corn production.
Heatwaves have also hit multiple regions hard, including East Asia, the Mediterranean, and the southwestern United States. Wildfires in Canada and the western U.S. displaced thousands.
The hurricanes devastated parts of the United States and the Caribbean.
These events are causing millions in damages. Food and water security faces devastating destabilization.
According to the WMO, extreme events like these are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.
Climate Finance is Central Focus of COP29
With the stark findings of the 2024 State of the Climate report in mind, COP29 is set to prioritize climate finance with a special focus on funding mechanisms for vulnerable countries.
The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance are all set to be discussed at COP29 and finalized for implementation from 2025 onwards. NCQG aims to secure funding from wealthy nations to support climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries.
Another key agenda at the UN Global Climate Summit is accelerating renewable energy expansion worldwide.
The need for accessible and affordable finance has become essential. This is true especially in low-income nations and regions in the Global South, which attract only 15% of global renewables investment despite their high climate vulnerability.
Global leaders are expected to push for a significant increase in commitments to funds like the Loss and Damage Fund, which received $700 million at COP28, and private climate funds such as Altérra, which secured $30 billion last year.
Ensuring that these funds are accessible to all nations is critical. This would help countries to adopt sustainable practices and build climate resilience.
COP29: Will This Be the Turning Point for Climate Action?
As world leaders convene for COP29, the message from the WMO’s latest report is clear: urgent action is needed to combat the climate crisis.
Rising greenhouse gas emissions, record-breaking heat, shrinking glaciers, and severe weather events are not just data points but warnings of a rapidly changing climate. Each year millions of people all around the world are the bearer of the consequences.
Developed nations continue to consume fossil fuels and dump high amounts of greenhouse emissions driving global mean temperatures to record levels.
Addressing these issues requires coordinated international efforts, stronger commitments to climate finance, and comprehensive plans to adapt and mitigate the worst effects of climate change.
With the window to limit global warming to 1.5°C narrowing, COP29 could be a defining moment. However, there’s not much hope when one looks at the seriousness of the big players.
Yet, we simply can’t deny that the decisions made in Azerbaijan may well shape the world’s capacity to counter climate change for the next decade and onwards.
“The record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought and raging wildfires that we have seen in different parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of our future,”
writes Prof. Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General in the report’s forward.
“We must continue to strive to limit warming as much as possible, recognizing that staying well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C remains critical to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.”
