RESEARCH: CSIRO’s 2024 State of the Climate report released
This State of the Climate report shows aspects on Australia’s climate, global climate and projected future changes.
The findings and outlook are scary.
Observations, reconstructions of past climate and climate modelling continue to provide a consistent picture of ongoing, long‑term climate change interacting with underlying natural variability.
Associated changes in weather and climate extremes— such as extreme heat, heavy rainfall, coastal inundation, fire weather and drought—exacerbate existing pressures on the health and well-being of our communities and ecosystems. These changes in the weather and climate are happening at an increasing pace; the past decade has seen record-breaking extremes contributing to natural disasters that are exacerbated by anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, including ‘compound events’, where multiple hazards and/or drivers occur together or in a close sequence, which intensifies their impacts.
These changes have a growing effect on the lives and livelihoods of all Australians. Australia must plan for, and adapt to, the changing nature of climate risk now and in the decades ahead. The severity of impacts on Australians and our environment will depend on the speed at which global greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced
Select Key Findings:
A selection of key findings from the report include:
Australia
- [Climate and Sea surface temperature increases] have led to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events over land and in the oceans
- In the south-west of Australia there has been a decrease of around 16% in April to October rainfall since 1970. Across the same region, May to July rainfall has seen the largest reduction, by around 20% since 1970.
- Heavy short-term rainfall events are becoming more intense.
- There has been an increase in rainfall and streamflow across parts of northern Australia since the 1970s.
- There has been an increase in extreme fire weather, and a longer fire season, across large parts of the country since the 1950s.
- Oceans around Australia are becoming more acidic, with changes happening faster in recent decades.
- Sea levels are rising around Australia, including more frequent extreme high levels that increase the risk of inundation and damage to coastal infrastructure and communities.
Global
- The world’s oceans, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, have taken up more than 90% of the extra energy stored by the planet (as heat) arising from enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations.
- The ice sheets and ice shelves of Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice due to a warmer climate, and contributing to global sea level rise.
- Global mean sea levels have risen by over 22 cm since 1900; half of this has occurred since 1970.
Select Key Future predictions:
In the continuing decades, Australia will continue to experience ongoing changes to its weather and climate. These include:
- Continued increase in air temperatures, with more heat extremes and fewer cold extremes.
- Continued decrease, on average, in cool season rainfall across many regions of southern and eastern Australia, which will likely lead to more time in drought.
- More intense short-duration heavy rainfall events even in regions where the average rainfall decreases or stays the same.
- Further sea level rise and continued warming and acidification of the oceans around Australia.
- Fewer tropical cyclones, but with higher intensity on average, and greater impacts when they occur through higher rain rates and higher sea level.
These findings and predictions are frightening. With this outlook, our natural environment will be impacted, infrastructure and livelihoods in desert and coastal communities will be damaged and fire weather, droughts and the increased frequency and severity of extreme heat and heatwaves will post serious health risks to our communities. The living environment is becoming more important than ever as the first defence to protect people from the climate.
