Global warming on the rise, prompting UN weather agency to issue 'red alert'

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GENEVA - Global warming continues to be a top concern after the U.N. weather agency sounded a "red alert," pointing to record-smashing increases last year in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures and melting of glaciers and sea ice.

The agency is also warning that the world's efforts to reverse the trend have been inadequate.

The World Meteorological Organization predicts with "high probability" that 2024 will be another record-hot year.

The Geneva-based agency, in a "State of the Global Climate" report released Tuesday, ratcheted up concerns that a much-vaunted climate goal is increasingly in jeopardy: That the world can unite to limit planetary warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels.

"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," said Celeste Saulo, the agency's secretary-general. "The WMO community is sounding the red alert to the world."

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The 12-month period from March 2023 to February 2024 pushed beyond that 1.5-degree limit, averaging 1.56 C (2.81 F) higher, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Service. It said the calendar year 2023 was just below 1.5 C at 1.48 C (2.66 F), but a record hot start to this year pushed beyond that level for the 12-month average.

"Earth’s issuing a distress call," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "The latest State of the Global Climate report shows a planet on the brink. Fossil fuel pollution is sending climate chaos off the charts."

The latest WMO findings are especially stark when compiled in a single report. In 2023, over 90% of ocean waters experienced heat wave conditions at least once. Glaciers monitored since 1950 lost the most ice on record. Antarctic sea ice retreated to its lowest level ever.

WMO said the impact of heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones, exacerbated by climate change, was felt in lives and livelihoods on every continent in 2023.

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But the agency also acknowledged "a glimmer of hope" in trying to keep the Earth from running too high a fever. It said renewable energy generation capacity from wind, solar and waterpower rose nearly 50% from 2022 to a total of 510 gigawatts.

The report comes as climate experts and government ministers are to gather in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, on Thursday and Friday to press for greater climate action, including increased national commitments to fight global warming.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles.

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