July 2023 – Climate news bulletin
On the whole, not good at all.
Burning fossil fuels adds to a blanket of heat-trapping air pollution in the atmosphere. Since pre-industrial times, we have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide by 50% and the concentration of methane in the atmosphere by 250%.
Average global temperatures in 2022 were 1.15C above pre-industrial levels. There are currently wildfires in Spain and Greece. 23 Italian cities, including Rome, Florence, Bologna, Bari, Catania, Cagliari, Palermo and Turin, will be on “red alert” by Wednesday, with temperatures in Rome expected to reach 43C.
In the past two weeks, temperatures in Niger hit 47C.
Globally, about 40 percent of the planet is experiencing a marine heat wave.
Last year, in Europe alone, there were 63,000 heat-related deaths.
World hunger was decreasing until 2015 – but has been increasing again since then.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, has written this week on Twitter:
In many parts of the world, today is predicted to be the hottest day on record. And these records have already been broken a few times this year. Heatwaves put our health and lives at risk. The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It’s happening. I urge world leaders to act now.
On the upside, renewable energy – mostly new wind and solar – met 90% of last year’s global growth in electricity generation.
But at the same time, total global consumption of fossil fuels still continues to increase every year.
Average global heating is still increasing and possibly accelerating (link to draft paper by Dr James Hansen).