The world is heating up at an unprecedented pace, new climate data shows, and leaders gathered for the COP28 conference which opened in Dubai on Thursday must get us out of "deep trouble", UN chief António Guterres said.
While 2023 is not yet over, a provisional report from the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that it is set to be the warmest on record, with global temperatures rising 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Mr. Guterres said that the race is on to keep alive the 1.5-degree limit agreed by world leaders in Paris in 2015.
"We are living through climate collapse in real time - and the impact is devastating," he warned in a video statement accompanying the launch of the report on the first day of this year's annual UN climate talks.
Melting glaciers, rising seas
The UN Secretary-General recently visited two global warming hotspots, Antarctica and Nepal, where he bore witness to record low sea ice and was "shocked at the speed of receding glaciers".
According to WMO's report, the maximum Antarctic Sea ice extent for the year was a staggering one million square kilometres less than the previous record low, at the end of southern hemisphere winter.
Glaciers in western North America and the European Alps also experienced an "extreme melt season".
Because of continued ocean warming and melting of glaciers and ice sheets, record sea level rise was also observed, WMO said.
Greenhouse gas levels keep climbing
Meanwhile, concentrations in the atmosphere of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide reached a record high last year and continued to increase in 2023.
WMO stressed that carbon dioxide levels are 50 per cent above the pre-industrial era and that the gas's long lifetime "means that temperatures will continue to rise for many years to come".
"These are more than just statistics," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas, calling for action to "limit the risks of an increasingly inhospitable climate in this and the coming centuries".
Dire consequences
From deadly Cyclone Daniel in Libya in September to devastating floods in the Horn of Africa following five consecutive seasons of drought and severe smoke pollution from Canada's forest blazes, WMO's report highlights the grim effects of climate upheaval on lives, health and livelihoods.
Throughout the year, communities suffering from extreme weather around the world faced food insecurity and displacement.
"Record global heat should send shivers down the spines of world leaders," Mr. Guterres said. "And it should trigger them to act".
