A piece in The Guardian newspaper titled “The Climate Crisis in Charts: How 2024 Has Set Unwanted New Records†provides an excellent visual analysis of our current climate breakdown. This year is set to be the first that breaks the 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees fahrenheit) aspirational global warming limit established by the Paris Climate Accords in 2015 (though the global temperature rise will need to remain above the 1.5 celsius limit for a number of years before the threshold is considered irrevocably crossed).
Temperatures over the previous 12 months spanning back into 2023 have exceeded the 1850 to 1900 baseline average by 1.62 degrees celsius, according to the European Union’s space program.
Ocean surface temperatures broke all-time records for the beginning of 2024, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and the Maine Climate Office at the Climate Change Institute housed at the University of Maine. Scientists have found this does not appear to be an anomaly, but rather a consistent pattern year over year. The increased atmospheric moisture caused by this phenomenon has, according to data from the 2024 Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, led to an increase of extreme rainfall on 61% of all global land between 1994 and 2023 over a baseline period of 1961 to 1990.
Nearly 50% of all global land area, according to the same Lancet data, experienced at least one month of extreme drought in 2024, a massive increase in global drought in records dating back to 1950. Despite all this, we are continuing to emit planet-heating greenhouse gases at alarming rates. Data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) inventorying greenhouse gas emissions (referred to as the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin No. 20) shows that the monthly concentration of three of the most potent greenhouse gases in our atmosphere have grown dramatically.
Carbon dioxide concentrations reached over 420 parts per million (ppm) in 2023, 51% greater levels than before the industrial revolution. Methane concentrations hit 1,934 parts per billion (ppb), a 165% rise from preindustrial levels. Nitrous oxide levels grew to 336.9 ppb, a 25% rise over preindustrial times.
Overall, according to calculations by the Global Carbon Budget, fossil fuel emissions in gigatons (1 gigaton = 1 billion metric tons) are projected to be 8% higher for all of 2024 than they were in 2015 when the Paris Climate Accords were negotiated. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that emissions will have to fall by 43% below early 21st Century levels between now and 2030 for the world to avoid blowing past the 1.5 celsius target, which is now largely considered impossible by much of the global climate science community.
Sea ice extent is shrinking dramatically, as measured in million kilometers squared, and sea height variation (sea level rise) is increasing, according to the Arctic Data archive system and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. These changes create what is referred to as a feedback loop as they change the Earth’s albedo effect. As sea and land ice melt, darker land and water are exposed, which retain more energy from the sun’s rays and create sort of a doom loop of more ice melt and sea level rise. Warmer ocean water also expands and high concentrations of CO2 lead to greater ocean acidity and deoxygenation.
Just 57 oil, gas, coal and cement companies are responsible for 80% of all global CO2 emissions since the signing of the Paris Climate Accords in 2016, according to the Carbon Majors Database, compiled by world-renowned research experts. Meanwhile, 1,173 coal, oil and gas lobbyists were granted access to the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The lobbyists outnumbered the delegates of almost every country at the conference.
While renewable energy has become so cheap and plentiful that the world is well on its way to 2030 goals of tripling global deployment established at COP28, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world is falling behind on COP28 goals for doubling energy efficiency over this same time frame, which is another crucial component in reducing the use of fossil fuels by decreasing energy demand in the first place. IEA forecasts suggest that energy efficiencies in our built environments could deliver over 70% of projected decline in oil demand and 50% of projected decline in gas demand by 2030, but only if the goal of doubling efficiencies is met.
Plastics are another major source of emissions and of course other pollution issues. Plastics production doubled between 2000 and 2019, with annual production reaching 460 million tons globally, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), while plastic waste entering the environment over this same time period more than doubled, from 156 million tons to 353 million tons. Only 9% of these plastics globally were recycled even once.
With 99.7% of expected votes tallied at time of writing, approximately 533,556 West Virginia registered voters, 70% of those who turned out to vote in the 2024 presidential election, voted for Donald Trump. Win margins were similar for Republicans down ballot at the national and state levels. That means nearly three-quarters of the just under 63% of registered voters in the Mountain State who cast their ballots this year voted to do nothing about the issues I’ve discussed here, and instead to exacerbate all of these problems and to let the most responsible actors off the hook.
Undeterred, I and many others will continue in 2025 to fight for cleaner, safer, healthier and far more affordable power, products and services. With renewed resolve, we will uphold our commitment to making sure we are not criminal ancestors to our children and all of posterity. In the dark and uncertain days to come, I hope others will reflect on the terrible choices made and help us change course before it is too late to avoid the worst possible outcomes.
