The rate of climate change surged alarmingly between 2011-2020, which was the warmest decade on record. Continued rising concentrations of greenhouse gases fueled record land and ocean temperatures and turbo-charged a dramatic acceleration in ice melt and sea level rise.
This report documents how extreme events across the decade had devastating impacts, particularly on food security, displacement and migration, hindering national development and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also shows how improvements in forecasts, early warnings and coordinated disaster management and response are making a difference.
The report provides a longer-term perspective and transcends year-to-year variability in global climate. It compliments the World Meteorological Organization’s annual State of the Global Climate report.