01/10/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/10/2025 10:33
The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:
Today's assessment from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is clear: Global heating is a cold, hard fact.
We have just endured the hottest decade on record - with 2024 topping the list, and likely to be the first calendar year with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Individual years pushing past the 1.5°C limit do not mean the long-term goal is shot. It means we need to fight even harder to get on track.
Blazing temperatures in 2024 require trailblazing climate action in 2025.
Specifically, Governments must deliver new national climate action plans this year to limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5°C, and support the most vulnerable and deal with devastating climate impacts.
There's still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But, leaders must act - now.