March 24, 2014

expert reaction to WMO annual statement on the status of the global climate

The World Meteorological Organisation published its annual report, reporting 13 of the 14 warmest years on record occurred this century, and that 2013 was the hottest year ever in Australia and floods, droughts and extreme weather occurred elsewhere around the world.

Prof Sir Brian Hoskins, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London, said:

“2013 with its mixture of record warmth and extreme weather shows a now familiar mixture of natural variability and greenhouse gas induced climate change.  These annual statements document a striking long term trend, and one thing is clear: that our continuing greenhouse gas emissions are a crucial driving force in the changing climate.  If you take a system like the earth’s climate and give it as big a kick as we’re giving it, we’re going to have to be incredibly lucky to not see severe climate changes at some time.”