A year of climate extremes

Climate change stands as one of the most pressing challenges of our time, characterised by rising global temperatures, extreme weather events, and the degradation of ecosystems.

NASA has found Summer 2024 the “hottest” season “to date”. August 2024 set a new monthly temperature record, capping Earth’s hottest summer since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

June, July, and August 2024 combined were about 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit (about 0.1 degrees Celsius) warmer globally than any other summer in NASA’s record – narrowly topping the record just set in 2023. The summer of 2024 was 2.25 F (1.25 C) warmer than the average summer between 1951 and 1980, and August alone was 2.34 F (1.3 C) warmer than average.

The year 2024 also saw contrasting wildfire activity across the globe. North and South America were the most affected continents according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) data, going back to 2003. Bolivia recorded its highest wildfire carbon emissions in CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) data set by a huge margin, and Venezuela also saw the highest annual wildfire emissions. In North America, areas of the western US and Canada were most affected with the first significant fires starting already in March. Europe had a relatively average season except for Portugal, some countries of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The Arctic emissions of 2024 ranked in the Top 5 of the 22-year dataset.

In 2024, extreme weather events caused by climate change led to flooding in several regions, including in mid-September, Storm Boris caused record rainfall that led to catastrophic flooding in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Italy, and Hungary. The floods displaced over 25,000 people, killed more than 20 people, and caused widespread damage to infrastructure, homes, and essential services.

In late October, the Valencia, Spain, region experienced a devastating flash flood event that killed over 200 people. The event was caused by an extraordinary volume of rain, over 500 millimetres within just eight hours. In the rainy season from July to September, extremely heavy rainfall led to catastrophic flooding in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. More than 2,000 people lost their lives and millions were displaced. Pakistan also experienced erratic weather patterns, including its “wettest April since 1961”.

The 2024 El Nino events remained the worst hit for Southern Africa, with severe consequences to the communities already facing difficult situations due to failed crops and other microeconomic conditions. The impact is characterised by drought, severe food shortages, limited access to clean water, disease outbreaks and loss of livestock.

Heavy rainfall and flash flooding caused by El Nino led to at least 124 deaths in Pakistan. The flooding also damaged thousands of homes and submerged agricultural lands. These severe weather shocks have led to the displacement of thousands of people, disease outbreaks, food shortages, water scarcity and significant impacts on agriculture.

On the biodiversity front, the WWF Living Planet 2024 report exposed a grim picture of the dwindling biodiversity of the earth, stressing a 73 per cent reduction in the average size of tracked animal populations between 1970 and 2020. The data based on the Living Planet Index (LPI) – by gathering data about 35,000 population trends and over 5,000 species – reveals dangerous indicators. Freshwater species, which have dropped by 85 per cent, have suffered the most, followed by terrestrial populations dropping by 69 per cent and marine species by 56 per cent. The LPI is used by WWF not only as an early warning signal for extinction danger that helps to understand the health of the ecosystem but also as an indicator of the ‘tipping points’.

Despite the consistently overwhelming catastrophic happenings and solid scientific consensus regarding their anthropogenic origins, humanity's response to the threat of climate change has been woefully wretched, inadequate, and lagging. The question here is whether humanity has truly realised the magnitude of the threat posed by climate change or whether we remain in a state of denial or apathy.

The commitment levels of wealthy nations often fall short of what is necessary to mitigate the impending crisis. Pledges made during climate summits frequently lack enforceable mechanisms, leading to what some critics describe as ‘greenwashing’ – where governments and corporations promote an image of environmental responsibility without implementing substantive measures. The Year 2024 can also be marked as another ‘Year-of-Pledges’. Let’s see how.

The G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders' Declaration, which was adopted on November 18–19, 2024, includes several commitments reaffirming the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels. Whilst forming the G20 Task Force on Global Mobilisation against Climate Change, its declaration also called for action to advance disaster risk reduction as a global priority. The G20 recognised that emerging threats and risks continue to outpace efforts to reduce risk.

COP29, held in Baku, widely referred to as the Finance COP, concluded with an agreement on a $300 billion annual climate finance package under the much-anticipated New Collective Quantified Goals (NCQGs). However, this commitment to mobilise $300 billion annually by 2035 for developing nations is neither legally binding nor sufficient, as independent experts estimate the actual need at $1.3 trillion per year.

Likewise, the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held in Riyadh, on December 2-13, 2024. New pledges made for large-scale land restoration and drought preparedness were announced, such as the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership. To this end, more than $12 billion has been pledged to address desertification, land degradation and drought worldwide, in the most vulnerable countries, through cooperation and development projects.

Similarly, the significant policy achievements made at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP16 in Cali, Colombia, represent seemingly hopeful wins for nature. The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Parties established a new financial mechanism, the ‘Cali Fund’, for sharing benefits from Digital Sequence Information (DSI).

This is an important move to address how pharmaceutical, biotechnology, animal and plant breeding and other industries benefiting from DSI should share those benefits with developing countries and Indigenous Peoples and local communities, ensuring at least 50 per cent of funds are dedicated to Indigenous People and local communities. An additional $163 million was pledged to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), bringing total funding to around $396 million.

The aforementioned fund’s establishment, technological strides, policy evolution, and enhanced international collaboration are indeed commendable progress. However, the pace of change is yet to match the scale of the challenge unequivocally. The interplay of psychological barriers, political inertia, and misinformation complicates a unified response to climate change. To truly grasp the magnitude of this threat, a concerted effort is sine-qua-non to bridge the gap between understanding and action, fostering a societal shift towards sustainable practices and policies.

Only through collective acknowledgement and a commitment to change can humanity hope to confront the existential challenge posed by climate change effectively. Admittedly, the global commitment to addressing climate change has never been this clear, setting a foundation for further action in the year ahead.

The writer is a climate governance expert. He tweets/posts @razashafqat

and can be reached at: razashafqat@yahoo.com