WMO - El Niño intensifying: comment

"Two deadly heatwaves in the last two months have shown how dangerous climate change impacts have become at 1.4°C of global average temperature rise. Now an intensifying El Niño is set to add more heat into our climate, driving temperatures up almost everywhere in the coming months.

"Already, climate change has driven the second worst harvest on record at home [2], and harmed crops in the many countries around the world from which we import two fifths of our food [3]. Right now, extreme heat and the delayed monsoon in India have delayed sowing and will limit harvests, putting renewed pressure on, amongst other crops, rice production - for which India is the world’s biggest exporter [4]. This all adds hundreds of pounds to average UK household food bills [5], putting additional cost of living pressures on families.

"We can’t do anything about El Niño, but we have one clear scientific solution already available to us to halt climate change: cutting our planet-heating emissions to net zero, for a future in which El Niño adds heat from a much lower, and less dangerous baseline."