UN warns of record-breaking glacier melt

The melting of glaciers worldwide occurred at a dizzying speed last year, a phenomenon that seems impossible to stop, the UN warned on Friday.

The last eight years have been the warmest ever recorded, while greenhouse gas concentrations such as carbon dioxide reached new records, recalled the World Meteorological Organization.

“Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest level and the melting of some European glaciers literally broke records,” assured the United Nations specialized agency in its annual climate report.

Sea levels also reached record highs, with an average increase of 4.62 millimeters per year between 2013 and 2022, double that between 1993 and 2002.

Droughts, floods, and heat waves affect large areas of the world, and the associated costs are increasing.

Also, record temperatures were recorded in the oceans, where around 90% of the heat trapped on Earth by greenhouse gases ends up.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to limit global warming to “well below” 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to 1850-1900 levels.

According to the WMO report, the global average temperature in 2022 was 1.15 °C above the 1850-1900 average.

Also, in the last eight years, global average temperatures reached records, despite the cooling caused by the meteorological phenomenon of La Niña for three consecutive years.

Source: AFP