This year is set to be the hottest year ever recorded, according to an announcement by the World Meteorological Organization at critical international climate talks underway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
World leaders must make a dramatic course correction in ambition and action to fight the human-caused climate crisis.
“The world is heating up and now we must turn the heat on world leaders to act,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF global climate and energy lead and COP20 president. “Around the world, people are demanding change. If leaders do not act quickly to cut emissions, we’ll see damage to our planet that simply can’t be reversed.”
In 2023, virtually no part of the world escaped the consequences of rising temperatures. Record-breaking heatwaves, raging wildfires, and catastrophic storms and floods devastated lives, economies, and ecosystems. We’ve reached a critical moment for climate action and world leaders at this year’s global climate summit—COP28—must commit to rapidly phasing out fossil fuels. Doing so would be a game-changer that the planet sorely needs if we want to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels within reach.
“We have no time to delay. The sooner and more decisively we act, the sooner people and nature can reap the benefits of a cleaner, safer, and more stable future,” Pulgar-Vidal said. “If we don’t act to end the age of fossil fuels, years like this will only become more common and more catastrophic.”
The message is simple and clear: we must act now to curb the worst impacts of a warming planet.
