Publication Date April 21, 2023 | Climate Nexus Hot News

Climate Change Was Really Bad Last Year, UN Report Confirms

FILE - People walk through floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Hadeja, Nigeria, Sept 19, 2022. Looking back at 2022’s weather with months of analysis, the World Meteorological Organization says last year really was as bad as it seemed. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - People walk through floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Hadeja, Nigeria, Sept 19, 2022. Looking back at 2022’s weather with months of analysis, the World Meteorological Organization says last year really was as bad as it seemed. (AP Photo, File)

Last year's climate-fueled disasters really were that bad, the UN World Meteorological Organization confirmed this morning. The concurrent droughts, flooding, heat, and wildfires and the knock-on effects they cause, all represent the present, and disproportionately inequitable, costs of failure to sufficiently slash fossil fuel use and address the climate crisis. “Communities and countries which have contributed least to climate change suffer disproportionately,” Omar Baddour, head of the Climate Monitoring and Policy Division at the WMO, told CNN. Atmospheric levels of heat-trapping CO2 and methane reached record highs, along with global sea levels and ocean temperatures and acidity — all while Antarctic sea ice and European glaciers hit record lows. Average global temperatures over the last eight years are the highest on record.

(APReutersCNNCBC)

To receive climate stories like this in your inbox daily click here to sign up for the Hot News Newsletter from Climate Nexus: 

https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/hot-news-sign-up