The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has painted a grim picture, citing that the current global weather patterns are likely to reach extreme levels.
According to NOAA, El Niño, a naturally occurring climate pattern characterized by warming ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, could lead to record-high temperatures in 2023 or 2024. The development of El Niño is expected to contribute to global warming and increase the likelihood of temperature records being broken.
“Depending on its strength, El Niño can cause a range of impacts, such as increasing the risk of heavy rainfall and droughts in certain locations around the world. Climate change can exacerbate or mitigate certain impacts related to El Niño. For example, El Niño could lead to new temperature records, particularly in areas that already experience above-average temperatures during El Niño,” said Michelle L’Heureux, a climate scientist at the Climate Prediction Center.
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Meanwhile, Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said it has been observed that developing countries with weak climate resilience experience frequent occurrences of extreme weather events and natural disasters, resulting in significant damage to their development achievements, exacerbating resource constraints, and spurring ethnic conflicts.
“The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s fundamental consensus clearly assigns historical responsibility for global climate change to developed countries, emphasizing their obligation to lead in significant emissions reduction, achieving net-zero or even negative carbon emissions at an earlier stage.
Unfortunately, in the past year, certain developed countries have witnessed a regression in their energy policies, resulting in increased fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
It raises the question of whether the negative reversal in meeting emission-reduction commitments, including unilateral withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, a global agreement signed in 2015 by 196 countries to reduce global warming to 1.5°C, constitutes a threat to international peace and security, considering the potential security implications of climate change,” said Zhang.
