MORE BAD NEWS FOR AUSTRALIA: GLOBAL REPORT
A GLOBAL CLIMATE REPORT has found 2019 was the second hottest year on record for the planet, and the hottest year ever recorded for ocean heat content.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the peak US scientific agency, has released its Annual Global Climate Report, confirming what many experts had predicted.
“If it seems like we are reporting on a new climate record being broken week after week, it’s because the planet is getting hotter and hotter,” said Climate Councillor Professor Will Steffen. “It’s a frightening reality.”
Nine of the ten hottest years globally have occurred since 2005, with 2016 being the hottest on record.
“The record heat is a warning. The experts have been telling us for decades that it will get hotter and weather events will get more extreme. The fires, the heat and the smoke must serve as a massive wake up call. We must heed the warnings. To protect Australian communities we must phase out coal, oil and gas, the drivers of climate change,” said the Climate Council’s CEO Amanda McKenzie.
“While bushfire smoke has drawn a toxic veil over Australian skies, the scientific evidence is as clear as day,” said Professor Steffen.
“Just last week the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that 2019 was Australia’s hottest and driest year on record, and we now know that we’ve just sweltered through one of the hottest years on record globally — both on land and under the water,” he said.
“Australia is proudly home to the world’s largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef, but it’s under direct threat from climate change due to hotter water temperatures,” said Professor Steffen.
“As a nation, we can no longer afford to sit by the sidelines. We need to play a much bigger role in tackling this global issue, by urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ramping up the transition to renewable energy and storage technologies,” said Ms McKenzie.
