Climate indicators 'all moving in wrong direction': top scientists

From carbon pollution to sea-level rise to global heating, the pace and level of key climate change indicators are all in unchartered territory, more than 60 top scientists warned Thursday.

Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation hit a new high in 2024 and averaged, over the last decade, a record 53.6 billion tonnes per year of CO2 or its equivalent in other gases, they reported in a peer-reviewed study.

This and a host of other climate indicators are “all moving in the wrong direction”, said lead author Piers Forster, head of the University of Leed’s Priestley Centre for Climate Futures.