WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018

The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018 was formally launched at a joint press conference with the UN Secretary General António Guterres, UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés and WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas on 28 March 2019 at UN headquarters in New York. The report will be one of WMO’s contributions to a Climate Action Summit at Heads of State level on 23^rd September 2019.

The WMO report on global temperatures, extreme weather and climate change indicators and socio-economic impacts is “yet another strong wake-up call” on the need for more ambitious climate action, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. It provides a very solid, scientific base for the analysis that is absolutely essential in relation to how climate change is evolving, and as a clear guide to our actions in the future. The report  coincided with a high-level meeting on Climate and Sustainable Development for All convened by the President of the General Assembly.

The WMO climate statement includes input from national meteorological and hydrological services, an extensive community of scientific experts, and UN agencies. It details climate related risks and impacts on human health and welfare, migration and displacement, food security, the environment and ocean and land-based ecosystems. It also catalogues extreme weather around the world.

The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018, its 25^th anniversary edition, shows how the physical signs and socio-economic impacts of climate change are accelerating as record greenhouse gas concentrations drive global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels. The report highlights record sea level rise, as well as exceptionally high land and ocean temperatures over the past four years. This warming trend has lasted since the start of this century and is expected to continue.

Climate change continues to accelerate and three things stand out in the report:

1.   We are seeing record highs in land and ocean temperatures, sea levels and greenhouse gas concentrations.

2.   We are seeing, more and more, the dramatic impact of extreme weather conditions. Last year, in the US alone, we saw 14 weather- and climate-related disasters where the devastation cost more than $1 billion dollars each, with a total of some US$49 billion dollars. Worldwide, more than 35 million people were affected by floods. Cyclone Idai in southern Africa was a particularly stark recent example.

3.   The impact on public health is escalating. The average number of people exposed to heatwaves has increased by some 125 million since the beginning of the century, with deadly consequences. The combination of extreme heat and air pollution is proving increasingly dangerous, especially as heatwaves will become longer, more intense and more frequent.

Mr Guterres said: “So, this report proves what we have been saying that climate change is moving faster than our efforts to address it. The climate action summit on 23 September 2019 would seek to inject greater ambition into the fight against climate change. I am telling leaders: Don’t come with a speech; come with a plan.”