UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark message to COP28 delegates in Dubai, declaring, “We are living through climate collapse in real time.”
Guterres spoke during the launch of the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of the Climate report, which indicated that 2023 is set to become the hottest year ever recorded.
Highlighting the profound impact of climate change, Guterres emphasized the devastation caused by fires, floods, and soaring temperatures around the world. He called attention to the urgency for world leaders to act in response to the record global heating, stating, “Record global heating should send shivers down the spines of world leaders. And it should trigger them to act.”
The WMO report, strategically released to coincide with COP28 negotiations, presented alarming data indicating that 2023 was approximately 1.4°C (2.5°F) above pre-industrial levels. This increase is attributed to ongoing carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and the return of the El Niño climate pattern. The report forewarns that 2024 is likely to set another record year, bringing the internationally agreed limit of 1.5°C (2.7°F) ever closer.
WMO Secretary-General Prof Petteri Taalas emphasized the severity of the situation, describing it as a “deafening cacophony of broken records.” He stressed the real-world impact of extreme weather events, destroying lives and livelihoods on a daily basis. Taalas called for immediate action to limit the risks of an increasingly inhospitable climate in the present and future centuries, acknowledging that a return to the climate of the 20th century is not possible.
