By The coronavirus pandemic made the accelerating impacts of global heating even worse for millions of people. But the temporary dip in carbon emissions due to lockdowns had no discernible impact on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, the WMO report said. Last year was ranked as the hottest on record, in a tie with 2016 and 2019, despite the cooling effect of the cyclical natural climate phenomenon, La Niña. Without this, 2020 would most likely have been the hottest year yet. The decade 2011-20 was the hottest on record.
The WMO’s State of the Climate Report comes just before a Global Leaders’ Summit, convened by the US President, Joe Biden, and as the UK prepares to host the crucial Cop26 UN Climate Summit in November, at which urgent action must be agreed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement, to keep the global temperature increase to well below 2°C and 1.5°C if possible. In 2020, the temperature was 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The report, produced by the WMO and partners, found that cuts in food production, transport and economic activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the effects of extreme weather on communities. It said the temporary fall in new carbon emissions had “no discernible impact” on atmospheric concentrations.
Source: The Guardian
