State of the Climate: Another record-breaking year for 2022

Records in glacier melt, global temperatures, and sea level rise were all broken in 2022 say the World Meteorological Agency (WMO).

The State of the Global Climate 2022 report shows that global sea level rise has doubled since 1993 to its highest ever measurement while the past eight years were the eight warmest on record.

Amid climate records, extreme weather events also grew last year. Record rainfall in Pakistan, continuous drought in East Africa, and record-breaking heat in Europe and China. Tens of millions were directly affected.

Extreme weather and a changing climate combined to continue fuelling food insecurity and migration while costing billions in damages.

Among these records was the first recorded reading of 40°C in the UK, Switzerland’s glaciers losing 6% of their ice volume, and the lowest levels of sea ice in Antarctica ever recorded.

Speaking at the release of this report, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas noted that we will see a negative trend in weather patterns until the 2060s regardless of our success in reducing emissions today.

On Thursday, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Service released its own report in which it shows that Europe saw its second-warmest year on average last year.

Amid the negatives, solar radiation in Europe was more intense than it had been for 40 years. The positive result: in many parts of the continent there was above-average potential for generating solar power.

We will look further into the findings of this year’s State of the Global Climate report in detail over the coming week.