The year 2020 will be pivotal for climate action if the world is to control ever worsening impacts and indicators of climate change before it is too late, according to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as he launched WMO’s Statement on the State of the Global Climate.
“Greenhouse gas concentrations are at the highest levels in 3 million years – when the Earth’s temperature was as much as 3 degrees hotter and sea levels some 15 metres higher,” said Mr Guterres.
“We count the cost in human lives and livelihoods as droughts, wildfires, floods and extreme storms take their deadly toll,” Mr Guterres said at a joint press conference with WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas at UN headquarters in New York.
The Statement on the State of the Climate in 2019 highlighted the tell-tale physical signs of climate change such as increasing land and ocean heat, accelerating sea level rise and melting ice, as well as the impacts of weather and climate events on socio-economic development, human health, migration and displacement, food security and land and marine ecosystems.
The flagship report includes input from national meteorological and hydrological services, leading international experts, scientific institutions and United Nations agencies. It provides authoritative information for policy makers on the need for Climate Action.
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