World temperatures hit new high in 2016 for third year in a row

Record ID: 164664

  • Title: World temperatures hit new high in 2016 for third year in a row
  • Date: 18th January 2017
  • Summary: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND (JANUARY 18, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DELEGATES INSIDE WEF CONGRESS HALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREENPEACE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JENNIFER MORGAN SAYING: "The fact that global temperatures are now at record highs, again, three years in a row, is unprecedented. We haven't seen this level of temperature rise for 115,000 years. The urgency of action is so present. So our reaction at Greenpeace is, it's time for business to put it at the centre. For government to take action and to listen to people who want a different kind of a future." CLOSE OF MORGAN'S HANDS/ FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREENPEACE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JENNIFER MORGAN SAYING: "Well President-elect Trump obviously is living on a very different planet than what his scientific institutions are telling him. And he is living on a very different planet than what the business community is saying here in Davos, at the World Economic Forum. Companies are looking for opportunities. So the United States can either be part of modern innovative world that is going to solve this crisis, or they are going to be left behind. Which will be bad for American not only from the impacts of climate change but from the jobs and opportunities that Mr. Trump says he's all about." MORGAN SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREENPEACE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JENNIFER MORGAN SAYING: "People around the world are ready for action. They want action. They want solar power. They want renewable energy. They want public transport. And they want to be there for their kids. This issue is not some technological fix issue. This issue is about who we are as humans. And whether we are going to take care of our kids and grandkids." MORGAN SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2017 18:25
  • Keywords: Climate change Greenpeace Davos WEF Donald Trump temperature global warming Al Gore Jennifer Morgan
  • Location: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
  • City: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Environment,Temperature
  • Reuters ID: LVA0025ZM0KZR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: World temperatures hit a record high for the third year in a row in 2016, creeping closer to a ceiling set for global warming with extremes including unprecedented heat in India and ice melt in the Arctic, U.S. government agencies said on Wednesday (January 18).
    At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Former Vice President Al Gore took the opportunity to announce it on live panel discussion on climate change.
    "Today NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration in the U.S. jointly officially announced that 2016 was hottest year in recorded history. This is the third year in a row that that record has been broken. Every night on the television news is like a nature eye through the book of revelation. People are connecting the dots."
    Greenpeace Executive Director, Jennifer Morgan called for urgent action.
    "The fact that global temperatures are now at record highs, again, three years in a row, is unprecedented. We haven't seen this level of temperature rise for 115,000 years. The urgency of action is so present. So our reaction at Greenpeace is, it's time for business to put it at the centre. For government to take action and to listen to people who want a different kind of a future," said Morgan also taking part at WEF.
    The data, supported by findings from other organisations, was issued two days before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who questions whether climate change has a human cause.
    "Well President-elect Trump obviously is living on a very different planet than what his scientific institutions are telling him. And he is living on a very different planet than what the business community is saying here in Davos, at the World Economic Forum. Companies are looking for opportunities. So the United States can either be part of modern innovative world that is going to solve this crisis, or they are going to be left behind. Which will be bad for American not only from the impacts of climate change but from the jobs and opportunities that Mr. Trump says he's all about," said Morgan and added, "People around the world are ready for action. They want action. They want solar power. They want public transport. And they want to be there for their kids. This issue is not some technological fix issue. This issue is about who we are as humans. And whether we are going to take care of our kids and grandkids."
    Average surface temperatures over land and the oceans in 2016 were 0.94 degrees Celsius (1.69 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th-century average of 13.9C (57.0F), according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    U.S. space agency NASA reported almost identical data, and the UK Met Office and University of East Anglia, which also track global temperatures for the United Nations, said 2016 was the hottest year on record.
    Temperatures, lifted both by man-made greenhouse gases and a natural El Nino event that released heat from the Pacific Ocean last year, beat the previous record in 2015, when 200 nations agreed a plan to limit global warming. That peak had in turn eclipsed 2014.
    Global temperature records date back to the 1880s. Temperatures are unlikely to set a new peak in 2017 after the El Nino faded, even as greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels keep building up in the atmosphere, led by China and the United States.
    Among last year's extreme weather events, wildfires in Alberta were the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history while Phalodi in west India recorded a temperature of 51C (123.8°F) on May 19, a national record.
    North America also had its warmest year on record, the Great Barrier Reef off Australia suffered severe damage from rising temperatures, and sea ice in both the Arctic Ocean and around Antarctica is at record lows for mid-January.
    At a conference in Paris in late 2015, governments agreed a plan to phase out fossil fuels this century and shift to renewable energies such as wind and solar power.
    They agreed to limit warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times, while pursuing efforts for 1.5C (2.7F). By that yardstick, the rise stood at about 1.1C (2.0F) in 2016.
    "Long-term indicators of human-caused climate change reached new heights in 2016," Petteri Taalaas, head of the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organisation said, referring to rising levels of carbon dioxide and methane.
    Trump, who has described climate change as a hoax, has threatened to cancel the Paris Agreement and shift to exploiting cheap domestic coal, oil and gas. At a meeting in Marrakesh days after Trump's victory, however, almost 200 nations said it was an "urgent duty" to combat climate change.
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