The latest report on climate signals a disastrous phase for the Earth, with an increase in environmental problems and a decrease in natural resources. Urgent calls for decisive and comprehensive policy reforms highlight the critical need for sustainable practices and international unity to address the climate emergency.
Urgent action needed for the climate and the Earth
An international coalition led by Oregon State University scientists concludes in its published annual report that the deterioration of the Earth’s vital parameters signals a “new critical and unpredictable phase of the climate crisis” and that “decisive and rapid actions are needed.”
Led by OSU’s William Ripple and former postdoctoral researcher Christopher Wolf, the collaboration identifies critical areas requiring policy intervention (energy, pollutants, nature, food and economics) in “The 2024 State of the Climate Report: Perilous Times on Planet Earth”, published on BioScience.
“A large part of the very fabric of life on our planet is in danger,” said Ripple, a distinguished professor in Oregon State University’s College of Forestry. “We are already in the midst of an abrupt climate upheaval on Earth, jeopardizing life on Earth like humans have never seen before. Ecological overshoot, taking more than the Earth can safely give, has pushed the planet into climate conditions more threatening than anything even our prehistoric relatives have ever seen.”
Of the 35 planetary vital signs that scientists use to monitor climate change each year, 25 reach record extremes, he notes. According to the climate report, the three hottest days on record occurred in July 2024, and fossil fuel emissions reached an all-time high, as did human and ruminant populations.
The human population is increasing at a rate of around 200,000 people per day and the number of ruminants (hoofed mammals such as cattle, sheep and goats that produce greenhouse gases and whose breeding requires a lot of energy) is increasing by around 170,000 units per day.
According to the report, annual fossil fuel consumption increased by 1.5% in 2023, mainly due to sharp increases in the use of coal (1.6%) and oil (2.5%).
Renewable energy use also increased in 2023: Solar and wind energy use together increased 15% compared to 2022. But renewable energy use is only one-fourteenth of fossil fuel use, and the recent increase of the use of renewable energy is mainly attributable to increased demand rather than their replacement with fossil fuels.
The report shows that annual tree cover loss globally increased from 22.8 million hectares in 2022 to 28.3 million in 2023, and, based on annual global averages, concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere have reached historic highs.
“The growth rate of methane emissions is accelerating, which is extremely concerning,” said Wolf, now a scientist at Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates in Corvallis, known as TERA. “Even nitrous oxide, which is potent and long-lived, is at a record high.”
Other troubling points in the report, Wolf notes, are:
•The Earth’s average surface temperature has reached the highest level ever recorded.
•The acidity and heat content of the oceans, as well as the global mean sea level, have reached record extreme levels.
•Greenland ice mass, Antarctic ice mass and average glacier thickness are at historic lows.
•Twenty-eight amplifying feedback loops have been identified, those that exacerbate climate change, such as thawing permafrost.
•In 2023, approximately 2,325 heat-related deaths occurred in the United States, a 117% increase from 1999.
“Since the publication of our 2023 report, multiple climate-related disasters have occurred, including a series of heat waves across Asia that have killed more than a thousand people and sent temperatures to 122 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of the ‘India,” Ripple said. “Climate change has already displaced millions of people, with the potential to displace hundreds of millions or even billions of people. This would likely lead to greater geopolitical instability, perhaps even partial social collapse.”
The scientists say their goal is to “provide clear, evidence-based insights that inspire informed and courageous responses from citizens to researchers and world leaders.” In particular, they recommend the rapid adoption of policies that:
•Implement a global carbon price that could limit emissions from the wealthy while providing financing for further climate action.
•Improve energy efficiency and savings by replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon renewable sources.
•Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including those classified as short-term pollutants, such as methane.
•Protect and restore biodiversity-rich ecosystems, which play a critical role in carbon cycling and storage.
•Encourage a change towards eating habits that favor plant-based foods.
•Promote a sustainable green economy and significantly reduce excessive consumption and waste by the rich.
“Despite six reports from the International Panel on Climate Change, hundreds of other reports, tens of thousands of scientific articles, and 28 annual meetings of the United Nations Conference of the Parties, the world has made very little progress on climate change,” Wolf said. “The future of humanity depends on creativity, moral fiber and perseverance. If future generations are to inherit the world they deserve, decisive and swift action is needed.”
This year’s meeting, officially the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, will be held Nov. 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and “it is critical that tremendous progress is made,” Ripple said.
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