The abundance of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere once again reached a new record in 2020, with the annual rate of increase above the 2011-2020 average. To avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure, urgent, ambitious, and accelerated action is required to adapt to climate change, at the same time as making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. They have exposed millions of people to acute food and water insecurity, especially in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, on small islands and in the Arctic.

These weather extremes are occurring simultaneously, causing cascading impacts that are increasingly difficult to manage.

Increased heatwaves, droughts and floods are already exceeding plants and animals’ tolerance thresholds, driving mass mortalities in species such as trees and corals. People and ecosystems least able to cope are being hardest hit. Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and is affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, says this Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. IPCC | Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, Vulnerability It highlights impacts on food security and population displacement, harming crucial ecosystems and undermining progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The report combines input from multiple United Nations agencies, national meteorological and hydrological services and scientific experts. Global sea level rise accelerated since 2013 to a new high in 2021, with continued ocean warming and ocean acidification. But this does not negate or reverse the long-term trend of rising temperatures. A temporary cooling “La Niña” event early in the year means that 2021 is expected to be “only” the fifth to seventh warmest year on record. This report finds the past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest on record, based on data for the first nine months of 2021. Record atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and associated accumulated heat have propelled the planet into uncharted territory, with far-reaching repercussions for current and future generations.

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