Industries and individuals around the world burned record amounts of oil, gas and coal last year, releasing more greenhouse gases than ever before, a group of leading scientists said in a new report, warning that humanity is hurtling toward \u201cclimate chaos.\u201d <\/p>\n
The surge in global use of fossil fuels in 2024 contributed to extreme weather and devastating disasters including heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe planet\u2019s vital signs are flashing red,\u201d the scientists wrote in their annual report<\/a> on the state of the climate. \u201cThe window to prevent the worst outcomes is rapidly closing.\u201d <\/p>\n Some of the most alarming of Earth\u2019s \u201cvital signs,\u201d the researchers said, include record heat in the oceans ravaging coral reefs<\/a>, rapidly shrinking ice sheets<\/a> and increasing losses of forests<\/a> burned in fires around the world. They said the extreme intensity of Hurricane Melissa<\/a> this week is another sign of how the altered climate is threatening lives and communities on an unprecedented scale.<\/p>\n \u201cThe climate crisis has reached a really dangerous stage,\u201d said William Ripple, the report\u2019s co-lead author and a professor at Oregon State University. \u201cIt is vital that we limit future warming as rapidly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n There is still time to limit the damage, Ripple said. It means switching to cleanly made electricity, clean transportation, fewer beef and dairy cows and other sources of harmful gases. These transitions are happening in some places, though not nearly fast enough.<\/p>\n For example, fossil fuel use actually fell<\/a> in China in the first half of this year, a remarkable change for a country that remains the world\u2019s biggest climate polluter. Renewable energy<\/a> is being built out at a furious pace there, dwarfing installation in rest of the world. And in California, clean energy provided two-thirds of electricity<\/a> in 2023. <\/p>\n Yet total use of fossil fuels rose 1.5% in 2024, the researchers said, citing data from the Energy Institute.<\/a> Energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-heating gases also reached an all-time high \u2014 exactly the opposite of what needs to be happening to address climate change.<\/p>\n The report notes that hotter temperatures are contributing to growing electricity demand. <\/p>\n \u201cAvoiding every fraction of a degree of warming is critically important,\u201d the scientists wrote. \u201cWe are entering a period where only bold, coordinated action can prevent catastrophic outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n The report<\/a>, published Wednesday in the journal BioScience, is the sixth annual assessment that Ripple and his colleagues have compiled since they wrote a 2020 paper<\/a> declaring a climate emergency \u2014 a statement that more than 15,800 scientists have signed in support.<\/p>\n The scientists said the current pace of warming greatly increases the risks of crossing dangerous climate tipping points, including vicious cycles such as the collapse of ice sheets, thawing of carbon-rich permafrost and widespread dieback of forests. <\/p>\n Ripple and his colleagues stressed that adopting solutions now to reduce emissions can swiftly bring benefits and that these solutions will be far less expensive than dealing with the consequences of uncontrolled climate change. <\/p>\n Efforts by President Trump and his administration to boost production of oil, gas and coal seriously threaten to slow the shift toward clean energy, said Michael Mann, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n He and co-author Peter Hotez argue in the recent book \u201cScience Under Siege<\/a>\u201d that other nations must take on greater leadership now that the U.S. and other oil-promoting governments are working to block action on climate change.<\/a><\/p>\n Other scientists who helped write the report said the Trump administration is turning a blind eye to threats including sea-level rise<\/a>, worsening droughts<\/a> and wildfires<\/a>, and diminished agricultural output.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a scandal that the U.S. is pulling back from any efforts to address environmental challenges,\u201d said Peter Gleick, co-founder and senior fellow of the Pacific Institute, a think tank in Oakland. \u201cThe rest of the world should ignore efforts by the U.S. to delay progress on these problems \u2026 and I\u2019m hopeful that other countries will continue to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n