Source: Xinhuanet
In April 2023, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said that global average temperatures could reach new highs in 2023 or 2024 due to climate change and the expected return of the El Niño weather phenomenon. In July, the World Meteorological Organization declared El Niño conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean for the first time in seven years. On November 30, the World Meteorological Organization declared 2023 the hottest year on record on human history.
In the context of global warming, the stronger the intensity of El Niño, the more obvious the increase in global average temperature. High temperatures have caused many wildfires and droughts around the world.
↑This satellite image shows a wildfire in British Columbia, Canada. 2023 was the longest wildfire season on record in Canada, with wildfires lasting more than five months and accumulating more than 180,000 square kilometers burned, beating the 1989 record of 73,000 square kilometers.
↑This satellite image GIF shows the changes that the 2023 drought has brought to the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The Amazon rainforest, known as the "lungs of the earth", has suffered a drought rarely seen in a century this year, killing many species of fish and reducing water levels, which has not only dried up some lakes in the Amazon basin, but also put some local villages at risk of becoming "isolated islands".
↑This satellite image GIF shows the changes that drought has brought to the Paso Severino reservoir in Florida, Uruguay. Located about 70 km from Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, the Paso Severino reservoir is an important source of drinking water in the capital region.
The increase in ocean surface temperatures due to global warming has led to the rapid development of typhoons and tropical cyclones, and therefore to coastal areas. El Niño is often the "driver" behind heavy rains and flooding.
↑Originally a tropical storm, Hurricane Otis upgraded to a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane in just over a dozen hours, making landfall from the southern Pacific coast of Mexico in the early hours of October 25, 2023, with maximum winds of 266 kilometers per hour. Mexico's federal government announced in a communiqué on November 2 that 47 cities in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero were designated as disaster areas due to the impact of Hurricane Otis.
↑This satellite image shows the flooding of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul at the end of November 2023. As of November 22, the floods had killed at least five people and displaced about 28,000 people, according to the local civil protection department.
↑This satellite image GIF shows Death Valley National Park in California, U.S., flooded by Tropical Storm Hillary. According to reports, the roads in the park have been damaged due to flooding, and some highways have been severely damaged. The facilities in the park were also damaged by flooding. The National Weather Service recorded that the last time a tropical storm made landfall in the region was in 1939.
The World Meteorological Organization's 2023 State of Climate Services Annual Report notes that extreme heat causes the highest mortality rate of all extreme weather, with heat-related mortality likely to be 30 times higher than currently recorded. Heatwaves can also further exacerbate air pollution. In addition, extreme droughts caused by climate change exacerbate the risk of food insecurity and the spread of many climate-sensitive infectious diseases, such as vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria, as well as food- and water-borne diseases.
↑This is a wilted crop photographed on the outskirts of Sana'a, Yemen, August 25, 2023.
↑In August 2023, hot weather caused the death of tens of thousands of chickens in Israel. Since the beginning of this summer, Israel has experienced several rounds of hot weather, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in some cities. Kanat, Israel's natural risk insurance fund for agriculture, said on August 14 that, according to preliminary assessments, the current hot weather has caused about NIS ($5.3 million) in losses to the country's agriculture.
↑In June 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted to New York, USA, and the streets of New York were dark. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union's climate monitoring agency, Canada's carbon emissions from wildfires have reached an unprecedented level of 473 million tonnes so far this year, more than three times the previous year's high.
↑On September 18, 2023, a dengue fever patient is treated at a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This year's outbreak in Bangladesh is the worst outbreak of dengue fever on record. Data released by the country's General Directorate of Health Services on November 19 showed that the cumulative number of confirmed cases has exceeded 300,000 since the beginning of this year.
In response to El Niño and global climate control, it is urgent to reduce emissions. China is a doer in promoting global climate governance, not only has the world's largest clean power generation network, but also does its best to provide support and assistance to other developing countries.
In recent years, the output value of China's energy conservation and environmental protection industry has grown by more than 10% annually, and the installed capacity of hydropower, wind power and photovoltaic power generation ranks first in the world; China's installed capacity of non-fossil energy has increased to 50.9%, supplying 50% of the world's wind power and 80% of photovoltaic equipment; China's carbon dioxide emission intensity in 2022 will drop by 51% compared with 2005; China's production and sales of new energy vehicles will rank first in the world, with more than 18 million vehicles.
↑This is a panoramic view of the Port Qasim coal-fired power plant in Pakistan (taken on November 28, 2017). The Qasim Power Station Project is a large-scale energy project implemented in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which adopts China's self-designed and manufactured supercritical unit and limestone-gypsum wet desulfurization process, and uses seawater secondary circulation cooling and seawater desalination to replenish water, which retains the blue sky and clear water for the local area.
↑This is the Shubak Wind Farm in Jordan taken on June 15, 2023. Jordan lacks energy and mineral resources and has long relied on imports. CTG's wind and photovoltaic projects in Jordan are expected to provide 440 million kWh of green electricity per year, making them one of the largest clean energy projects in the country.
↑This is the country's largest factory rooftop photovoltaic power generation project photographed in Chonburi Province, Thailand, on November 7, 2023. The project is a joint venture between the Chinese company Pulin Chengsan and Thailand's WHA Infrastructure and Power Public Company Limited. The second phase of the project is expected to be completed next year, with an annual power generation of more than 3,000 kWh after operation and grid connection, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30,000 tons and save 15,000 tons of standard coal every year.
As an active advocate and practical practitioner of South-South cooperation on climate change, China's performance at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) was highly praised by relevant United Nations agencies and developing countries.
↑People get off the Haiger electric bus of the Chinese company Suzhou King Long at the shuttle bus stop at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on December 3, 2023. Since the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, Chinese brands such as Hager and BYD have provided shuttle bus services for the climate conference, and about 50 battery cars from Guangdong Lvtong have provided pick-up and drop-off services in the "green zone" of the conference, which together constitute a beautiful scenery of the conference.
Producer: Wang Jianhua, Zhong Haoxi
Planner: Wu Wei, Cheng Ying, Zhang Jiayang
Co-ordinator: Gao Wei
Satellite remote sensing and technical support: Zeng Yingying, Qi Lijun
Photography: Wang Dongzhen, Wang Teng, Liu Tian, Guo Ke
Muhammad Muhammad Muhammad Abu Qush
Xinhua News Agency Photography Department
State Key Laboratory of Media Convergence Production Technology and System
Joint Exhibits