Strengthening El Niño pushing world into ‘uncharted territory’, UN chief warns
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that a strengthening El Niño weather pattern is intensifying the global climate crisis, saying it is “adding fuel to a planet already on fire” and could push the world into unprecedented territory.
Addressing reporters on Friday, Guterres said the climate phenomenon, combined with human-driven global warming, is expected to trigger more extreme weather events and could lead to record-breaking global temperatures in the coming months.
“Two months ago, I warned that El Niño was arriving on our doorstep. Now it is inside the house — and turning up the heat,” he said.
El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern that raises sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. The warming disrupts global weather systems, altering rainfall, wind patterns and temperatures across many regions of the world.
Scientists say climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is amplifying El Niño’s effects, as warmer oceans and a hotter atmosphere provide more energy and moisture for extreme weather events, including prolonged heatwaves, intense rainfall and destructive storms.
Guterres said the world has already witnessed a summer marked by devastating climate extremes, including record-breaking heatwaves and widespread wildfires in countries such as Spain and France, resulting in significant loss of life and environmental damage.
“But according to the latest science, this is only a warm-up act,” he warned.
Citing the latest findings from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Guterres said Pacific Ocean temperatures linked to El Niño are at their highest levels ever recorded this early in the event. Sea surface temperatures are currently averaging around 3 degrees Celsius above normal.
According to the WMO, nearly every landmass on Earth is expected to experience above-average temperatures through October, raising the likelihood of breaking seasonal heat records worldwide.
“Taken together, that risks shattering every seasonal record and driving even more severe effects worldwide. We are in uncharted territory,” Guterres said.
He warned that the impacts extend far beyond rising temperatures. India’s monsoon season is already recording below-average rainfall, while hotter and drier conditions are forecast across Central America, the Caribbean, parts of South America, South Asia, the Southwest Pacific, Europe and Africa.
Calling the climate emergency “in overdrive,” Guterres urged governments to take immediate action in four key areas.
He called for expanding heat action plans and early warning systems to better protect vulnerable populations, improving workplace safety through heat protection standards, designing cities and public infrastructure to withstand extreme temperatures, and accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.
“The world must stop fueling the crisis,” Guterres said, stressing that reducing fossil fuel dependence is essential to tackling the root cause of global warming rather than responding only after climate disasters strike.
