Climate change continues to rage on. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report, 2020 is one of the three warmest years on record.

The period 2011 to 2020 is the warmest decade on record, and 2015 is the start of the six warmest consecutive years.

The WMO report used the following indicators of climate change – greenhouse gases, global mean surface temperature, extreme events, ocean heat content, sea-level rise, glacial melt, sea ice, and ocean acidification to measure and explain the progress of climate change over the years and its devastating impacts on the people, environment, and infrastructure on its provisional report on the State of the Global Climate in 2020.

The report is presented through an interactive online platform using maps, graphs, and videos to describe the rapid change in climate change indicators.

According to the report, ocean heat is at record levels, with more than 80% of the global ocean experiences a heatwave in 2020, resulting in ocean acidification damaging marine life. The extreme heat that has fueled record wildfires, floods, and the record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season has impacted millions of people, compounded threats to human health and security, and economic stability caused by the pandemic.

Concentrations of GHG in the atmosphere continues to increase, committing the planet to further warming for generations to come due to the long term effect of CO2 in the atmosphere.

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, which has slowed down the summer Arctic ice. 2020 has been the lowest Arctic sea ice on record. Greenland continues to lose ice, losing 152 Gt in 2020. Ocean heat content in 2019 was the highest since 1960, showing a faster heat uptake in recent decades because most of the increased GHG concentrations in the climate systems are absorbed in the oceans.

Severe floods affect millions in East Africa, Asia particularly Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar, China, and Vietnam.

During the first half of 2020, the WMO records around 10 million displacements due to hydro-meteorological hazards and disasters concentrated in South and South-east Asia and Horn of Africa.

Learn more about the WMO report and the interesting facts and figures of climate change, and how it impacts everything on our planet by clicking the link below:

STATE OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE 2020, UNPACKING THE INDICATORS