GENEVA
\nLast year joined the list of the seven warmest years on record, and was also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature has been more than 1\u00b0C above pre-industrial levels; edging closer to the limit laid out under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
\nAccording to six leading international datasets consolidated by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), although average global temperatures were temporarily cooled by the 2020-2022 La Ni\u00f1a events, 2021 was still one of the seven warmest years on record.
\nGlobal warming and other long-term climate change trends are expected to continue as a result of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the agency said.
\nThe average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (\u00b1 0.13) \u00b0C above the pre-industrial era levels. The Paris Agreement calls for all countries to strive towards a limit of 1.5\u00b0C of global warming through concerted climate action and realistic Nationally Determined Contributions \u2013 the individual country plans that need to become a reality to slow down the rate of heating.
\nWMO said that it uses six international datasets \u201cto ensure the most comprehensive, authoritative temperature assessment\u201d, and the same data are used in its authoritative annual State of the Climate reports.
\nSince the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, said WMO and \u201cthis is expected to continue.\u201d The warmest seven years have all been since 2015; the top three being 2016, 2019 and 2020. An exceptionally strong El Ni\u00f1o event occurred in 2016, which contributed to record global average warming.
\n\u201cBack-to-back La Ni\u00f1a events mean that 2021 warming was relatively less pronounced compared to recent years. Even so, 2021 was still warmer than previous years influenced by La Ni\u00f1a\u201d, said WMO Secretary-General, Prof. Petteri Taalas.
\n\u201cThe overall long-term warming as a result of greenhouse gas increases, is now far larger than the year-to-year variability in global average temperatures caused by naturally occurring climate drivers\u201d.
\n\u201cThe year 2021 will be remembered for a record-shattering temperature of nearly 50\u00b0C in Canada, comparable to the values reported in the hot Saharan Desert of Algeria, exceptional rainfall, and deadly flooding in Asia and Europe as well as drought in parts of Africa and South America\u201d, the WMO chief added.
\n\u201cClimate change impacts and weather-related hazards had life-changing and devastating impacts on communities on every single continent\u201d, Mr. Taalas underscored. Other key indicators of global heating include greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat content, ocean pH levels (levels of acidity), global mean sea level, glacial mass and the extent of sea ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA Last year joined the list of the seven warmest years on record, and was also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature has been more than 1\u00b0C above pre-industrial levels; edging closer to the limit laid out under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. According to six leading international datasets consolidated by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-239751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n