The world's climate is in uncharted territory, warns major report

A World Meteorological Organization report details a long list of grim records for everything from CO2 levels and temperature to sea ice loss and sea level rise

Unprecedented levels of ocean heat, ice melt and sea level rise are among the many key measures of climate change setting alarming records in recent years, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of the Global Climate report for 2024.

“We saw record temperatures across wide areas,” says John Kennedy at the WMO. Reversing some of the resulting changes would take hundreds or thousands of years, the report warns.

The report sets out a grim list of unwanted records. For instance, the rate of sea level rise has doubled since satellite measurements began, increasing from 2.1 millimetres per year between 1993 and 2000 to 4.7 millimetres per year between 2015 and 2024.

Glaciers are losing ice faster than ever, with the largest loss of glacier mass in a three-year period occurring in the past three years. Losses were particularly big in Norway – including the northern archipelago of Svalbard – as well as in Sweden and the tropical Andes.

The 18 years with the lowest extent of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean were the past 18 years, and the three years with the lowest extent of sea ice around the Antarctic continent were the past three years.

“What happens in the poles doesn’t necessarily stay in the poles,” warns Kennedy, meaning changes in these areas can affect the climate around the whole planet.

Cover photo:  Meltwater runs off the Bråsvellbreen Glacier in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard