The past eight years have been on track to be the warmest eight years on record, driven by rising concentrations of greenhouse gases and a build-up of heat. This year’s extreme heatwaves, droughts and devastating floods have affected millions of people and caused billions in damage, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate 2022 interim report. The omens and impacts of climate change are becoming a growing concern. Sea level rise has doubled since 1993. It has risen nearly 10mm since January 2020, reaching a new high this year. In the past two and a half years alone, sea level rise has accounted for 10 percent of the overall rise since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago. According to current estimates, the global average temperature in 2022 is about 1.15 °C warmer than the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900. A rare “three-peak” cooling La Niña means 2022 could be “only” the fifth or sixth warmest year. However, this does not reverse the long-term trend; it is only a matter of time before another warmest year on record occurs.
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