If predictions for this year hold, the eight years from 2015 to 2022 will be the warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Sunday in a report billed as a “chronicle of climate chaos”. AFP, taken over by Agerpres.

“As COP27 begins, our planet is sending a distress signal,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message broadcast at the COP27 UN climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.

This “chronicle of climate chaos” shows so clearly that change is happening at a catastrophic rate, destroying life on every continent,” he added, calling for “ambitious and credible action” during the conference’s two weeks of climate action. in Egypt.

With average temperatures estimated to be 1.15 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, 2022 is expected to be “only” the fifth or sixth warmest year on record due to the unusual influence of the third consecutive years of the La Niña phenomenon. which causes a decrease in temperature.

“But this does not change the long-term trend; it is only a matter of time before another warm year is registered,” the specialized UN agency insists.

As evidence of this trend, “the eight years from 2015 to 2022 are likely to be the eight warmest years on record,” estimated the WMO, which will publish its final assessment in 2023.

For many glaciers, it is already too late

The average temperature in the decade 2013-2022 is estimated to be 1.14 degrees Celsius higher than in the pre-industrial period, compared to 1.09 degrees Celsius in the period 2011-2020.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, even 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is so high that the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (…) is barely within the bounds of the possible,” WMO Director Petteri Taalas said on Sunday.

“For many glaciers, it is already too late and melting will continue for hundreds or even thousands of years with serious consequences for water supplies,” he added.

The planet has also been hit by an avalanche of extreme events this year, from historic floods in Pakistan to repeated heat waves in Europe and a prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa.

“We know that some of these disasters, the floods and heat waves in Pakistan, the floods and cyclones in southern Africa, Hurricane Ian, the extreme heat waves and drought in Europe would not have been as bad without climate change,” Friederike said. Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London.