TheCable

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can make it difficult to digest. TheCable’s climate quick facts will help to demystify these climate concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

• Global average temperatures are on the rise and predicted to exceed 3°C this century with extreme variations in weather, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• According to UNEP, in order to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C, the world needs to cut emissions by 30 gigatonnes annually by 2030.
• United Nations Water says extreme weather events are making water more scarce, more unpredictable and more polluted. These impacts threaten sustainable development, biodiversity, and people’s access to water and sanitation.
• Ocean heat content (OHC) is the measurement of how much heat is stored in the ocean, and according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), it was higher between 2018 and 2022 than in any other five-year period.
• Ocean warming can lead to coral bleaching, threatening coral ecosystems that provide food and livelihoods to millions of people and protect coastlines from storms, says WMO.