The Bureau of Meteorology has released a preview of its 2021 Annual Climate Statement today.
Quotes attributable to Climate Council experts:
Professor Will Steffen, Climate Councillor, climate change expert and ANU emeritus professor, said:
It is amazing to consider that 2021, a year influenced by a La Niña event, was the coolest year in only one decade, which shows you that 2021 is sitting on an exceptionally strong long-term warming trend.
Normally climate scientists look at weather patterns over at least two to three decades before we talk about long-term trends. We do get years where it is exceptionally hot, often during El Niño events, and other years with La Niña events that are cooler. These are short-term patterns that occur over a year or two.
If you zoom out to the bigger picture - over a few decades or longer - there is an underlying, upward trend in temperature driven by human emission of greenhouse gases.
Dr Martin Rice, the Climate Council's Director of Research, said:
Last year was a standout because it was warmer than any previous La Niña year. At 1.44°C of warming, we have seen extreme weather events worsening, super charged from the burning of fossil fuels. In a more energetic climate we are experiencing Black Summer fires, more powerful storms, intense rainfall and major flooding, storm surges riding on higher seas, and unprecedented coral bleaching.
Australians are already paying the price for the carbon pollution that's been added to the atmosphere over the past two centuries. The cost of extreme weather disasters in Australia has more than doubled since the 1970s, reaching $35 billion for the decade 2010-2019.
