Latest Developments in Global Climate Change - Issue 97

Latest Developments in Global Climate Change

Eliza Chan Man-yee

Climate change is increasingly severe. According to State of the Global Climate 2024, published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the global mean sea level and ocean heat content reached new highs in 2024. About a quarter of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by the oceans, leading to a decrease in the global mean ocean surface pH value and acidification of the oceans over the past 39 years. As a result of climate change, some extreme weather incidents – such as heat waves and rainstorms, are also becoming more serious and frequent. In 2024, the number of new global migrations of people caused by extreme weather was the highest since 2008.

To mitigate climate change, rapid action is necessary to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Global mean sea level change.
The seasonal cycle has been removed from the data. The shaded area represents uncertainty.
Image source: WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2024 / Data source: Archiving, Validation and Interpretation of Oceanographic Satellite (AVISO) data from Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)