Climate authorities mark World Environment Day by announcing 12 months of record high temperatures

This year’s World Environment Day brings a sobering reminder about the severity of global warming, according to climate experts.

New climate warnings were announced on Wednesday, including the fact that the planet is experiencing the hottest month of May on record – which, in turn, brings the number to twelve consecutive months of record-breaking levels. worldwide, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Places like Southeast Asia and India saw record high temperatures at the start of summer in the month of May.

The WMO report includes further evidence that the planet is very close to missing the Paris Agreement’s climate targets, which aim to limit the average increase in global temperature to 1.5 Celsius since the Industrial Revolution in the moderate emissions scenario, and an increase of 2 degrees Celsius increase in the worst case scenario.

There is also a growing likelihood that the world will temporarily exceed the target of 1.5 Celsius of additional warming more frequently, which has already happened several times this year, according to the report.

And the heat is not expected to subside. There is an 86% chance that at least one of the next five years, between 2024 and 2028, will surpass 2023 and become the hottest on record, the WMO report concluded. There is also an 80% probability that at least one of these years will temporarily exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius limit, according to the report.

The global average annual temperature for each year between 2024 and 2028 is predicted to be between 1.1 Celsius and 1.9 Celsius higher than the average temperature during the years of the pre-industrial reference period, 1850 to 1900, also according to with the report.

This relentless streak of new global temperature records was driven by a strong El Niño event in the equatorial eastern Pacific and amplified by human-caused climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions, scientists have found.

The data shows that the world is in trouble, emphasized United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during remarks at the New York Museum of Natural History on Wednesday morning.

Guterres urged world leaders, especially those from G20 countries, to do more to meet climate goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping people adapt to climate events, describing the present as a “time of climate crisis”.

“The battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s,” Guterres said, adding that current world leaders need to be the ones to act.

Guterres called for 33 specific actions, divided into four categories: reducing emissions, protecting people from the harm caused by climate events, increasing climate finance and cracking down on the fossil fuel industry.

These goals include reducing global fossil fuel production and consumption by 30% by 2030, which aligns with recommendations from UN climate reports.

Furthermore, Guterres called for the first time on countries to regulate fossil fuel advertising in a similar way to the tobacco industry, labeling it as harmful to human health. He also called on the public relations industry to stop representing fossil fuel clients and on social media and technology companies to stop accepting their advertising.

“We are playing Russian roulette with our planet,” he said. “We need a highway exit ramp into climate hell. And the truth is…we have control of the steering wheel.”

Stronger and more specific national climate plans will be presented at next year’s climate summit – COP30 – in Brazil, Guterres said.

World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5 to highlight current environmental challenges. Saudi Arabia is this year’s host.