“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt.”
The opening sentences of the annual ‘State of the Climate Report’ starkly outline the critical nature for the need for climate action. This international collaboration of experts was directed by Oregon State University scientist Dr William Ripple and noted that of the 35 planetary vital signs used to track climate change, 25 are now at record extremes.
The report continued, “We are witnessing the grim reality of the forecasts as climate impacts escalate, bringing forth scenes of unprecedented disasters around the world and human and nonhuman suffering. We find ourselves amid an abrupt climate upheaval, a dire situation never before encountered in the annals of human existence”.
“A large portion of the very fabric of life on our planet is imperiled”, said Ripple, a distinguished professor in the Oregon State University College of Forestry. “We’re already in the midst of abrupt climate upheaval, which jeopardises the life on Earth like nothing humans have ever seen. Ecological overshoot, taking more than the Earth can safely give, has pushed the planet into climatic conditions more threatening than anything witnessed even by our prehistoric relatives.”
“Since the publication of our 2023 report, multiple climate-related disasters have taken place, including a series of heat waves across Asia that killed more than a thousand people and led to temperatures reaching 122 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of India”, Ripple said. “Climate change has already displaced millions of people, with the potential to displace hundreds of millions or even billions.”
Tracked climate trends illustrate gravity of crisis
Clear warnings of a future that awaits us if the level of necessary action is not achieved are also outlined in the State of the Climate Report, which says: “We are currently going in the wrong direction, and our increasing fossil fuel consumption and rising greenhouse gas emissions are driving us toward a climate catastrophe.”
Recent trends in planetary vital signs were tracked and evaluated in the study with global and North Atlantic sea-surface temperature records far above their 1991–2024 averages for much of the year. The below diagrams are from the report itself:
Global sea ice extents and Antarctica sea ice extents were also noticeably lower than the 1991–2024 mean, which create further complex issues.
The State of the Climate Report laments: “Despite these warnings, we are still moving in the wrong direction; fossil fuel emissions have increased to an all-time high, the 3 hottest days ever occurred in July of 2024, and current policies have us on track for approximately 2.7 degrees Celsius (°C) peak warming by 2100.”
It highlights the dangers of extreme weather events and the global displacement which might occur through social collapse or climate migration: “Each 0.1°C of global warming places an extra 100 million people (or more) into unprecedented hot average temperatures.”
Who’s driving this climate catastrophe?
The international group of scientists did not shy away from highlighting those responsible for the alarming climate trends, emphasising that there has been “stiff resistance from those benefiting financially from the current fossil-fuel based system”. It noted:
“Human-caused carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases are the primary drivers of climate change. As of 2022, global fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes account for approximately 90% of these emissions, whereas land-use change, primarily deforestation, accounts for approximately 10%.”
It makes the connection between the lack of climate action and the rise of climate impacts and considers why this failure has been allowed to happen. “The global failure to support a rapid and socially just fossil fuel phasedown has led to rapidly escalating climate-related impacts.”
Pathways and policies
The report also made no apology for the level of frank assessment, stating, “With the increasingly undeniable effects of climate change, a dire assessment is an honest assessment”.
It quoted the 2024 opinion poll conducted of climate scientists, senior authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and review editors, with their predictions of the temperature rise compared with pre-industrial levels by the end of the century: “Nearly 80% of these scientists anticipate global temperatures increasing by at least 2.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Nearly half of them foresee a rise of at least 3°C.”
This said, however, Dr Ripple and fellow authors were at pains to be clear that the political prospects for action to enable the lowest possible temperature rise could be a major factor in some of the predictions drawn by the scientists.
Urgency and action
This new State of the Climate Report recommends the rapid adoption of policies to ensure that progress is made to limit the worst of the climate impacts. Some of these policies include the need to:
- “Implement a global carbon price that could limit emissions by the wealthy while potentially providing funding for further climate action.
- “Curb emissions of greenhouse gases, including those categorized as short-term pollutants such as methane.
- “Enhance energy efficiency and conservation while replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon renewables.”
These combined policies would help to address the need for urgency and action for climate action, rather than being paralysed by fear of climate catastrophe.
Renowned climatologist Professor Michael E Mann of the University of Pennsylvania told Yorkshire Bylines that, “This group has been doing very important work in communicating the fact that the climate crisis isn’t a distant threat, it’s a here-and-now crisis”. He noted that this year’s report, “drives home the urgency of taking action now”.
A decisive COP approaches
The next Conference of the Parties (COP) will be held in November this year in Azerbaijan and although the new State of the Climate Report highlights the lack of action on climate change so far, it also recognises the vital nature and process that these conferences can have in generating solutions for global problems.
“Despite six IPCC reports, 28 COP meetings, hundreds of other reports, and tens of thousands of scientific papers, the world has made only very minor headway on climate change, in part because of stiff resistance from those benefiting financially from the current fossil-fuel based system.”
The conclusion of this year’s report is one which should be emblazoned on national and international news media. Politicians need to be voted in who will enact effective climate action, both at home and abroad. When many world-leading climate scientists are making the argument in this atypical blunt manner, the world must act.
The time for delay and inaction has been and gone
“Only through decisive action can we safeguard the natural world, avert profound human suffering, and ensure that future generations inherit the liveable world they deserve. The future of humanity hangs in the balance.”
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