Key climate change indicators break records in 2021

19 May 2022 01:34 PM

Key climate change indicators – including atmospheric concentrations of carbon-dioxide, sea level, and ocean heat – set new records in 2021.

The WMO State of the Global Climate in 2021 report – the production of which was led by the Met Office – confirms that the past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record. 2021 was “only” one of the seven warmest because of a La Niña event at the start and end of the year. This had a temporary cooling effect but 2021 was warmer than any year prior to 2015. The average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (± 0.13) °C above the pre-industrial level [1850-1900].

The WMO State of the Global Climate report complements the IPCC Sixth Assessment report, which includes data up to 2019. The new WMO report provides information and practical examples for policy-makers on how the climate change indicators outlined in the IPCC reports played out during the recent years globally and how extremes have been felt at national and regional level in 2021.

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