As temperatures in many parts of the world continue to rise due to climate change, the impact on earth and on humans is being felt.
The planet experienced its hottest day since records began on Monday – a record that may soon be broken again, climate scientists are warning.
The average global temperature hit 62.62°F (17.01°C), a jump from the 62.46°F (16.92°C) high recorded in August 2016.
While England experienced a relatively cool 13°F (20°C),the US government’s National Center for Environmental Protection saw Texas pass 104°F (40°C).
The researchers pinned rising temperatures on a ‘El Niño’, a climate-heating natural weather event – that also last appeared in 2016 – and growing carbon emissions.
The ‘double whammy’ made Monday 3 July the warmest day since satellite monitoring records started tracking global averages in 1979. Average temperatures were also at their highest since data collection on weather began towards the end of the 19th century, experts believe. Average temperatures across the planet were 34°F (1.46°C) higher this June than they were in the period between 1850 and 1900.
Professor Friederike Otto, senior lecturer at Imperial College London, said: ‘This is not a milestone we should [celebrate]. It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems.’
China, steadily reawakening from a period of factory closures and reduced economic activity through the pandemic, also experienced record highs on Monday. The US researchers noted temperatures of 95°F (35°C) in some places.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s climate chief Frans Timmermans on Tuesday called for faster and more decisive joint action with China to tackle the ‘accelerating’ climate crisis. Timmermans, who is in Beijing for climate talks, met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang at the Diaoyutai state guest house on Tuesday, where China’s leaders have traditionally received senior foreign visitors. Humanity is confronted with a ‘triple crisis’, namely global warming, a loss of biodiversity and pollution, Timmermans said.
China has pledged to reduce its coal consumption, but not until 2026. Chinese officials on Monday asked power plants and coal suppliers to do ‘everything possible’ to ensure electricity supply this summer, as more cities swelter under scorching temperatures.
The World Meteorological Organization has warned that El Niño, a naturally occurring climate pattern pushing up temperatures, could continue through the second half of the 2023, too.
Last summer, emissions from coal and gas rose sharply in the EU as high temperatures drove up demand for air conditioning. British supermarket Sainsbury’s recorded a 1,876 percent spike in fan sales in early July 2022 as British carbon emissions rose by almost a third.
Despite the cooling effects of El Niño’s long-lasting opposite – ‘La Niña’ – over the last few years, global temperatures have tended to rise regardless.
Original source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk
