Antalya: The world is entering a new reality
where climate extremes are the norm, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres
warned on Monday, urging leaders at the COP31 climate conference in Turkiye to
"get serious." "A supersized El Nino is colliding with a planet
already superheated by manmade climate change," the UN secretary-general
said in a statement. "We have entered a new age of climate extremes."
As leaders gathered in Antalya for the UN
climate summit, Guterres called on them to "get serious by cutting
emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and
delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need." His
statement came as the UN's World Meteorological Organization released a report
indicating that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures,
melting ice and rising sea levels.
Each of the past 12 years have been among the
hottest 12 years on record, the agency said, with this year expected to be
among the hottest ever. "What we are seeing gives new meaning to the
phrase off the charts," WMO chief Celeste Saulo told reporters in Geneva,
cautioning that the current exceptionally strong El Nino could unleash more
heat and extreme weather well into next year. "We should prepare for
another record-breaking year in 2027."
The global average surface temperature between January and September this year was around 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, the WMO said. Preliminary data shows 2026 figuring among the four hottest years on record, with the naturally occurring El Nino releasing heat from the ocean, which this year has been the warmest ever measured. The WMO also reported that global sea level was the highest on record, freshwater was dwindling and glaciers were continuing a long-term retreat. On a positive note, it hailed a significant increase in countries with essential multi-hazard early warning systems, from 55 in 2015 to 136 last year.
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