This story includes details on the impacts of climate change that may be difficult for some readers. If you are feeling overwhelmed by this crisis situation here is a list of resources on how to cope with fears and feelings about the scope and pace of the climate crisis.
The 2024 “State of the Climate” report paints a stark picture of a world spiraling into an unprecedented climate emergency, warning of a “profound polycrisis” that affects the global web of natural and human systems.
The report’s authors—scientists and academics who describe a “moral duty” to alert humanity—urge swift action amid mounting evidence of rising temperatures, environmental degradation, rising economic inequality, and biodiversity loss.
“The evidence we observe is both alarming and undeniable, but it is this very shock that drives us to action,” the authors write. “We recognize the profound urgency of addressing this global challenge, especially the horrific outlook for the world’s poor.”
The evidence describes a worsening present and an alarming future. In 2023, 25 of 35 planetary “vital signs” tracked by scientists were at record levels. Global sea surface temperatures were “far above average” and world surface air temperatures were at record levels for nearly half of 2023 and much of 2024. Humanity’s emissions trajectory indicates the Earth may regularly surpass current temperature records in future years, with 2024 expected to be one of the hottest years ever recorded.
And despite rapid growth in renewable energy, fossil fuel consumption remains about 14 times higher than solar and wind energy use, keeping global emissions on an upward trend. Annual energy-related emissions increased 2.1% in 2023, and the top three emitting countries—China, the United States, and India—collectively account for over half of global emissions.
The world has made only “minor headway” on climate change despite nearly countless warnings, including six Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments, 28 United Nations climate summits, and tens of thousands of scientific papers, the authors add. They blame “stiff resistance from those benefiting financially from the current fossil-fuel based system” for the slow progress.
Meanwhile, five of 16 climate tipping elements are likely to cross their tipping points—and prompt a series of cascading effects leading to collapse—if the global climate exceeds the 1.5°C target set by the 2015 Paris agreement. But a 2024 opinion poll of “hopeless and broken” climate scientists showed that, out of hundreds of prominent climate scientists, only 6% believe this limit can be achieved, while nearly 80% anticipate global temperatures rising at least 2.5°C above preindustrial levels by 2100, and almost half of them foresee a rise of at least 3°C.
“With the increasingly undeniable effects of climate change, a dire assessment is an honest assessment,” write the report authors.
They emphasize that the climate crisis is a social justice issue, as the highest polluting countries are least likely to be affected by climate impacts due to geography and disproportionate wealth distribution. Those most affected are also the most vulnerable, the authors say. In addition to a wealth of data and research on the calamities facing human societies, the tables and figures in the report include compiled images of floods, fires, water scarcity, and other natural disasters depicting “untold human suffering.”
Other recent research releases show the climate crisis unfolding in a complex web of environmental issues. Ahead of the forthcoming COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia, an analysis by Carbon Brief finds that 85% of countries will miss their deadline to submit biodiversity pledges. The urgency of addressing the biodiversity crisis is highlighted by the World Wildlife Fund’s 2024 Living Planet Report, which reveals that the average size of monitored wildlife populations has declined 73% in just 50 years.
At the same time, a key mechanism for reducing atmospheric carbon—storage in natural systems—may be weakening, as preliminary research indicates the amount of carbon absorbed by forests, plants, and soil temporarily collapsed. Oceans, too, are becoming less effective at storing carbon, research suggests. Though 118 countries include natural carbon storage in their plans to address climate change, in 2023 the warming climate had altered natural systems in such a way that almost no carbon was stored.
“It’s been assumed that natural sinks are always going to be with us,” Andrew Watson, head of Exeter University’s marine and atmospheric science group, told The Guardian.
“The truth is, we don’t really understand them and we don’t think they’re always going to be with us.”
So “what happens if the natural sinks, which we’ve previously relied on, stop working because the climate is changing?”
With worsening natural crises, impacts on humans are becoming more pressing. Threats to food supply have long been mounting, with China recently moving to reinforce its emergency food supply. And a new report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water reveals that climate change is putting the world’s water supply under “unprecedented stress,” with the result that more than half the world’s food production could fail within the next 25 years, the Guardian reports.
