BEIJING: China had its hottest year on record last year, its meteorological agency said, as the world faces an increase in extreme weather caused by climate change.
Scientists say China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, even though Beijing has pledged to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and reduce them to net zero by 2060.
The average national temperature for 2024 was 10.92 degrees Celsius (51.66 Fahrenheit), 1.03 degrees above average — “the warmest year since full records began in 1961,” China’s meteorological administration said in its news release Wednesday night. said on the site.
“The four warmest years on record were the last four years, with all ten warmest years since 1961 occurring in the 21st century,” he added.
China has already logged its hottest July on record this year, along with the hottest August and hottest autumn on record.
The United Nations said in a year-end message on Monday that 2024 will be the hottest year on record worldwide.
Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and oceans.
Warmer air can hold more water vapor, and warmer oceans mean more evaporation, resulting in more intense rain and storms.
The effects are widespread, deadly and increasingly costly, damaging property and destroying crops.
Dozens were killed.
In China last year, dozens of people were killed and thousands displaced during nationwide floods.
In May, a highway in southern China collapsed after days of rain, killing 48 people.
Residents in the southern city of Guangzhou experienced a record-breaking heatwave, with state media reporting there were 240 days where the average temperature exceeded 22C (71.6F), breaking the record of 234 days set in 1994.
Sichuan, Chongqing and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River experienced heat and drought in early autumn.
Globally, 2024 saw deadly floods in Spain and Kenya, several violent storms in the United States and the Philippines, and severe drought and wildfires in South America.
Swiss Re, a Zurich-based insurer, has said economic losses from natural disasters will reach $310 billion in 2024.
The goal of the 2015 Paris climate accords is to limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — and to 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
In November, the World Meteorological Organization said the average air temperature from January to September was 1.54 degrees Celsius higher than the industrial average measured between 1850 and 1900.