Climate change has become a critical issue in our generation. As years pass by, the effects have gotten more evident. The year is ending; let’s see the overview of climate change’s impact on us this year.

According to a multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, we need to go in the right direction to reduce our impact, which is something we currently aren’t doing. It warns that “without much more ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change will be increasingly devastating”. 

The same report displays that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and above pre-pandemic levels. According to them, the emission reductions signed in the Paris agreement need to be seven times higher in order to realistically achieve their goal of 1.5°C.

This high use of fossil fuels is resulting in the warming of our atmosphere. As a result, our climate is also facing drastic changes and this will affect populations that are extremely vulnerable. We can see this in the summer drought and heat waves in Europe, Florida’s Hurricane Ian, and the monsoon flooding in Pakistan—which flooded a third of the country and destroyed communities and livestock. It affected 33 million people and at least 1,700 have passed away; waterborne diseases and malnutrition continue to be threatening issues. Record-breaking droughts this year have also emerged in a ghost village in Galicia, Spain, in February. 

The worst heat wave ever recorded took place in China during the summer. The high temperatures, drought, and wildfires equaled crop failures, power shortages, and shutdowns of factories. 

“The world’s richest countries are the ones most responsible for the climate catastrophe, and it’s the poorer nations who are paying the heaviest price. We need urgent and binding commitments from the G20 nations toward net zero.” The British Pakistani novelist, Kamila Shamsie, states. “As for the poorer nations, such as Pakistan, where the calamity has already occurred, ‘financial aid’ isn’t what is needed – we need to stop using that phrase and replace it with words such as: ‘climate justice’, ‘reparation’, and ‘obligation’.”