Heatwave in Europe, flood in Pakistan examples of ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points: Study

A research by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), global states climate change is "moving in the wrong direction."

Recent occurrences like the flooding in Pakistan are seen to be the newest manifestation of climate change because they reportedly blanketed a third of the nation in water.

"There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction. This year’s United in Science report shows climate impacts heading into the uncharted territory of destruction" said António Guterres (Secretary-General of the United Nations) Furthermore.

He claimed that "extreme weather events are not natural."

Recent examples of how severe climate change has become include the terrible heatwave that has affected most of Europe, the drought in China, the megadraught in the US, and the conditions that are akin to famine in some regions of Africa.

According to a survey, it is unlikely that global temperatures will rise by more than 1.5C during the next five years. At the historic UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last November, governments committed to focusing on keeping temperatures under the 1.5C limit, but their pledges and actions to reduce emissions fell short of what was expected.

Some governments have turned back to coal after Cop26 due to the invasion of Ukraine and rising gas prices. However, Guterres emphasised the risk, saying, "Each year we intensify our addiction to fossil fuels, even as the symptoms worsen quickly."

Rich nations that vowed to help the poor world but didn't follow through were criticised by Guterres "It is a scandal that developed countries have failed to take adaptation seriously and have shrugged off their commitments to help the developing world," he stated.

Published on: Wednesday, September 14, 2022, 05:32 PM IST