WMO makes both climate crisis and the call to action clear

If you’ve been one-stop shopping for some of the worst news about climate change of late, look no further than the newly released World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report.

The years 2015-2018 were the four warmest years on record as the long-term warming trend continues. Ocean heat content measured in each quarter of 2018 was at record or near-record highs. Polar ice is well below average, with the 12 lowest September minimums in the warming Arctic occurring across the last 12 years. Glaciers are retreating across the globe while sea levels were up, with the global mean sea level rise at 2 to 3 millimeters over 2017.

Levels of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere continued to rise, and so did ocean acidification. In the last decade, oceans absorbed about 25 percent of human-caused CO2 emissions. The pH levels have been dropping for 30 years, with more acidic oceans affecting the ability of marine organisms such as mollusks and reef-building corals to build and maintain shells and skeletal material.

“We are not on track to meet climate change targets and rein in temperature increases,” the WMO said in its foreword. “Every fraction of a degree of warming makes a difference.” In that sense, at least, the report was not all bad news but rather a comprehensive body of evidence supporting a call to action.

“Global temperature has risen to close to 1°C above the pre-industrial period. The time remaining to achieve commitments under the Paris agreement is quickly running out,” the authors said.

Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in extreme weather patterns, which impacted lives and livelihoods on every continent last year. While climate scientists are careful to draw an appropriate distinction between climate and weather, the extreme events are raising awareness for many people who were – or are – unsure what they think about climate change and what we need to do about it.

In 2018, weather and climate events accounted for most of the reason that nearly 62 million people were affected by natural hazards, according to an analysis of 281 events recorded by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) in Brussels.

The extremes tied to climate are a key driver of global hunger and one of the leading causes of severe food crises. “The countries with high exposure to climate extremes have more than double the number of undernourished people as those without high exposure,” the authors note.

The WMO report, advancing on previous research, makes clear that extreme weather events are happening more frequently and are linked to anthropogenic causes in some cases but less directly in others. Heat waves from Australia to the UK, for example, are more likely because of global warming tied to human activity. So are droughts and extreme rainfall, though with more variables to consider.

While the WMO urges caution on how extreme weather events are attributed to climate change factors, the report reiterates an understanding that the links are there – and the events are increasing. That’s not good news, but it makes clear that humans can change the trajectory by changing our behaviors.