Climate change sets new set of records, from atmosphere to ocean

In recent years, the evolution of climate change has been closely followed by scientists around the world. A few days ago, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a report on the state of the climate in the world over the past year.

Four major markers of climate change

This new report indicates that the four major markers of climate change, namely the concentration of greenhouse gases, sea level rise, warming and acidification of the oceans, broke new records in 2021.

• Each year, the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to increase. They have increased by 149% compared to the pre-industrial level. According to data provided by a Hawaii-based monitoring station, it reached 416.45 parts per million (ppm) in 2020, 419.05 ppm in 2021 and 420.23 ppm in 2022.
• As for the sea level, it has increased by an average of 4.5 millimeters per year between 2013 and 2021, or about double the rate of increase between 1993 and 2002. According to experts, this phenomenon is explained by the melting of the ice caps.
• As for the warming of the oceans, strong heat waves were observed in much of the waters in 2021. In addition, the warming now reaches more than 2,000 meters in depth.
• Finally, as the ocean absorbs a little less than a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions of anthropogenic origin, its acidification is inevitable. An IPCC report states that “ the surface pH value in the open ocean is currently the lowest for at least 26,000 years and that current rates of pH change are reaching levels not seen for at least twenty-six millennia “.

Solutions proposed by the UN

” This demonstrates once again the reality of the changes caused by human activities on a planetary scale, on land, in the oceans and in the atmosphere. said the World Meteorological Organization in its report.

According to experts, these new records will probably be broken in the next few years. The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, thus proposes solutions to accelerate the transition to renewable energies. Among other things, it proposes to end subsidies for fossil fuels, to increase investment in renewable energies, to cut red tape, to secure the supply of raw materials for renewable energy technologies and to ensure that these technologies become public goods available globally.