Climate 2024: The Year in Review
As another year draws to a close, reflecting upon the current state of climate change is crucial to forming future policies and renewing our commitment to sustainable practices.
2024 was another record-breaking year for climate change – a year that included the hottest summer on record, a series of record-breaking temperatures, and deadly natural disasters across the world, just to name a few. However, it was also a year of collaboration, innovation, and invention that shed light on environmental insights and brought forth new tools to combat the effects of climate change.
Key Findings
A study co-led by Conservation International scientist Heidi-Jane Hawkinds found that although planting trees is essential to combating climate change, grasslands are also vital, capturing more than a third of the world’s land-based carbon. Planting trees where they don’t belong can actually hinder, not help, grassy ecosystems.
Using newly refined technology, researchers found that a liter of bottled water, on average, contained 240,000 bits of plastic – 90% of which are nanoplastics, 10% of which are microplastics. This number is 10 to 100 times greater than previously assumed. Not only can plastics enter the water when bits from the bottle slough off, the researchers suggested that they can also come from plastic filters used to purify the water.
Unexpected heat wave “hotspots” are appearing throughout the globe, regions that see heat waves so extreme and frequent that they can’t be explained by global warming climate models. A new study by Columbia University created the first-ever map of such regions, which have killed thousands of people, withered crops and forests, and kindled wildfires.
New Innovations & Inventions
Greenland’s melting ice sheets currently contribute to 30-35% of the total sea level rise with no sign of slowing down. Scientists and scholars are currently equipping remote sensing data from satellites and drones to reveal the processes behind this phenomenon.
Electric vehicle (EV) battery prices have continued to drop while their capacities continue to rise. The cost of EV batteries has become 60% of what they used to be just 5 years ago.
In California, a new startup has built a new carbon removal factory. It’s the first commercial direct carbon capture plant in the United States and is working to store the captured carbon in concrete. It aims to remove a billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2035.
Notable Events
Climate change contributed to the deaths of at least 3,700 people and the displacement of millions in 26 weather events, the World Weather Attribution found.
A new analysis by Climate Central found that climate change added 41 additional days of dangerous heat globally.
At the 29th United Nations Climate Summit, negotiators agreed to provide at least $300 billion annually for developing countries by 2035 in a controversial deal to help them address climate change. This replaces a previous deal to mobilize $100 billion annually, but is far less compared to what economists believe is truly needed to tackle the problem – $1.3 trillion annually.
For the first time in more than 130 years, Japan’s Mount Fuji remained snowless into late October. The mountain typically sees its first snow by October 2. Meteorologists have attributed this event to exceptionally warm conditions that persisted into September.
The current global coral bleaching event is now the largest on record, affecting more than 74 countries and 77% of the world’s coral reefs. This is driven mostly by rising ocean temperatures that have given unprecedented stress on coral ecosystems.
Climate Resolutions: What’s Next for 2025?
Now, more than ever, it’s imperative to shift away from fossil fuels as fast as possible. Burning oil, gas, and coal are one of the primary causes of warming and thus also the extreme weather events that follow. New fossil fuel fields are being opened throughout the world, and extreme weather will only intensify with every bit of warming.
Though developing countries aren’t responsible for a significant amount of historic carbon emissions, they’re hit hardest by extreme weather. Financing poorer countries is essential to helping them recover from such events and creating a more stable, equitable world.
Early warning systems are important to notifying people of incoming weather disasters. Warnings must be given days before a climate event and outline clear instructions. As most extreme weather is well forecast, every country must implement, test, and improve early warning systems to prevent casualties.
Sources
photo courtesy of joseph green/shuttershock