NASA reported last month that 2017 logged in as the second-hottest year since modern record-keeping began in 1880 - and the hottest year that wasn’t influenced by the warming effects of El Nino.
In fact, 17 of the 18 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001. The temperature increase, most scientists agree, is overwhelmingly the result of industrial greenhouse gas emissions and underscores how perilously close we are to exceeding the 1.5 degree Celsius average global temperature goal set in the Paris climate change agreement.
We’ve already witnessed approximately a 1 degree increase above pre-industrial levels and the resulting impacts have been far worse than experts had previously forecast.
The string of powerful hurricanes that struck the Caribbean last fall serve as a graphic reminder of why small island nations insisted on the 1.5 degree limit in Paris. Almost six months after the storms, parts of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Cuba and Puerto Rico are still struggling to rebuild. And islands were not alone in their suffering. Deadly heatwaves in South Asia, unprecedented wildfires and mudslides in North America, and relentless droughts in Africa were just some of the other climate-related impacts seen around the world. At the same time, coral reefs across the tropical belt are still recovering from back-to-back bleaching episodes after abnormally high ocean temperatures.
Scientists say such events demonstrate the urgent need for countries to reduce emissions as soon as possible because if we hope to avoid exceeding 1.5 degrees we must act immediately.
Yet, recent developments suggest we are going in the wrong direction.
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