Climate protection is not progressing as quickly as it should be according to the Paris climate agreements.
This is the balance sheet in a climate report by the American Atmospheric and Marine Research Administration (NOAA) in its final report for the year 2021. Instead of progress, there were new negative records: The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the sea level reached new record levels last year .
The average annual CO2 concentration in the atmosphere was 414.7 parts per million (ppm), 2.3 ppm higher than in the previous year.
This level is the “highest in at least a million years,” the report says.
"The data is clear," said NOAA chief Rick Spinrad, "we continue to see mounting scientific evidence that climate change is having global impacts and showing no signs of slowing down." This has included ecological changes such as the cherry blossom season in Japan , which began as early as any time since records began in the early 15th century.
Sea levels have risen for the tenth consecutive year, according to the report.
The mean increase reached a new high of 97 millimeters over the 1993 level when satellite measurements began.
Spinrad pointed to the many severe floods, exceptional droughts and historic heat this year that have affected many people.
This shows "that the climate crisis is not an impending threat, but something we have to face today," he said at the presentation of the annual report.
Above all, tropical storms, which are increasing with gradual warming of the sea surface, increased in number and intensity in 2021.
Typhoon Rai alone claimed 400 lives in the Philippines.