Record levels have been set for ocean heat, sea level rise, glacier retreat, etc. 2023 ended the hottest decade ever recorded, pushing the planet "to the brink", warned the UN on March 19th, according to AFP.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report shows that records have been set and, in some cases, "shattered" in terms of greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean temperatures and acidity, sea level rise, Antarctic ice shelf expansion and glacier retreat, according to News.ro.

The planet is "on the brink of collapse", as "fossil fuel pollution is causing unprecedented climate chaos", warned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "There is still time to throw people and the planet a life preserver", he said, but action must be taken "now".

The report confirms that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded, with a global surface temperature average of 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels. "Every fraction of a degree of global warming has an impact on the future of life on Earth", warned the UN chief.

"The climate crisis is humanity's defining challenge and is inexorably combined with a crisis of inequality, as evidenced by the increasing food insecurity, population displacements and loss of biodiversity", said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

Heatwaves, floods, droughts, forest fires and rapid intensification of tropical cyclones wreak "misery and chaos", disrupting the daily lives of millions of people and causing billions of dollars in economic losses, warns the WMO.

2014-2023 was the hottest decade ever recorded, surpassing the 1.20°C average for the period 1850-1900.

The long-term increase in global temperatures is due to the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, which reached record levels in 2022.

The onset of the El Niño phenomenon in mid-2023 also contributed to the rapid rise in temperatures, according to the WMO. According to Celeste Saulo, "we have never been so close - albeit temporarily for the moment - to the lower limit of 1.5°C set in the Paris Agreement on climate change".

"The global meteorological community warns the world and raises a red alert: we are in a red alert", she said.

"What we saw in 2023, especially the unprecedented warming of the oceans, glacier retreat, and loss of marine ice in Antarctica, is a cause for maximum concern", warns Celeste Saulo.

Last year, nearly a third of the world's oceans were engulfed in a marine heatwave. By the end of 2023, more than 90% of the world's oceans had experienced heatwaves at some point during the year, according to the WMO. The increasing frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves have a profoundly negative impact on marine ecosystems and coral reefs.

In addition, the global average sea level reached a record high in 2023, reflecting the ongoing warming of the oceans (thermal expansion) and the melting of glaciers and ice caps.

Worryingly, the rate of increase in this average level over the past decade (2014-2023) is more than twice that of the first decade of the satellite era (1993-2002).

Reference glaciers worldwide experienced the largest retreat ever recorded since 1950, following extreme melting in North America and Europe, according to preliminary data.

However, there is "a ray of hope", according to the WMO: renewable energy production capacity in 2023 increased by nearly 50% year-on-year, the highest rate recorded in the past two decades.