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The last eight years have been the warmest on record, researchers say

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Last year was the fifth-hottest ever recorded on the planet, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced Tuesday. It is part of an unabated broader warming trend as humans continue to emit massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

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Extreme heat waves in Europe, Asia and the United States — which stemmed in part from more than a century of burning fossil fuels — helped drive 2022’s unusual warmth, researchers found.

Europe sweltered through its hottest summer on record and its second-hottest year overall, researchers said. Pakistan experienced catastrophic flooding as a result of extreme rainfall. In February, Antarctic Sea ice reached its lowest minimum in the 44 years of satellite records.

“2022 was yet another year of climate extremes across Europe and globally. These events highlight that we are already experiencing the devastating consequences of our warming world,” Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of Copernicus, said in a statement announcing the annual findings.


She said the data from 2022 provide “clear evidence that avoiding the worst consequences will require society to both urgently reduce carbon emissions and swiftly adapt to a changing climate.” The records show that the last eight years have been the hottest recorded in human history.
Despite the urgency, the world’s output of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming emissions continues to rise. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions ticked up by 1.3 percent in 2022 over the previous year, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the Rhodium Group.

 
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