During the 2024 Olympic Games, 10 world records and 32 Olympic records were broken. As countries celebrate their victories and broken records on the world stage, climate records are being repeatedly shattered.
While athletes were competing to break new sporting records in Paris, the world record for the hottest day tumbled twice in a week, beating the records set in July 2023.
As the world’s attention now shifts to the Paralympic Games, WWF’s powerful “Climate Games” campaign once again warns that record heat, nature loss and melting ice all signal a threat to our very survival.
“The Paralympics showcases the extraordinary achievements of athletes who push the boundaries of what is possible,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF Global Climate and Energy Lead. “Now, we need our global leaders to exhibit the same level of commitment and courage as these athletes, by taking decisive action to put climate and nature on a path to recovery.”
The campaign is anchored by a powerful video, conceived and produced by the TRY creative agency and production specialists Aparent, both based in Norway, which highlights the alarming number of climate records that were broken in 2023.
The video highlights that 2023 marked the hottest year on record, with countless national temperature and extreme weather records broken. Records highlighted in the video include: the longest tropical cyclone on record in Mozambique, Greece facing the largest wildfires on record in the EU, and new heat records in France, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Oman, Peru and more.
During the first part of the summer games, extreme heat hit hundreds of millions of people around the world, with July 2024 being one of the hottest, if not the hottest months on modern record. The daily global average temperature broke records reaching 17.16°C and 17.15°C on 22 and 23 July, and 2024 NOAA data confirms the alarming trend that the past ten Julys have been the warmest July on record.
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The spirit of human resilience, determination, and the triumph over adversity demonstrated so powerfully at sporting events like the Paralympics will inspire leaders and individuals worldwide to take the crucial actions needed to stabilise the climate and reverse nature loss.
“We have the solutions, we just need to accelerate the implementation of them. Last year, we saw record growth in renewable energy generation. And for the first half of 2024, the EU generated more energy from wind and solar than from fossil fuels for the first time. We now need to see this record be broken year-on-year, as well as new positive climate action milestones in areas such as energy efficiency, industry decarbonisation, nature conservation and restoration, building resilience to extreme weather, and climate finance for developing countries,” said Pulgar-Vidal.
“Every government around the world must identify its actions to reduce global emissions and build resilience in their new national climate plans. These must be submitted to the United Nations Climate Change by February next year. Countries must commit to game changing climate and nature action. Our living planet requires nothing less than a gold medal effort.”
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This article was originally published by WWF and is republished here as part of an editorial collaboration with WWF.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
