The Japan Times - Taiwan says 2024 was hottest year on record

Climate change sparked a trail of extreme weather and record heat globally in 2024, fuelling natural disasters that caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

As of Sunday, the annual average temperature in Taiwan stood at 24.97 degrees Celsius (76.95 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record of 24.91C in 2020 and setting a new high, the Central Weather Administration said.

"The average temperature in Taiwan in 2024 will be the highest recorded since 1897," the state forecaster said in a statement.

But, it warned that the next two months would bring "relatively lower average temperatures, with a chance of extreme cold spells", despite the global warming trend.

Taiwan said Monday it had increased its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade to as high as 30 percent from 2005 levels.

Its previous goal was a reduction of up to 25 percent.

"With the development of offshore wind power and renewable energy in 2025, we are confident we can achieve this goal," Environment Minister Peng Chi-ming told reporters.

The United Nations said Monday that the outgoing year was set to be the warmest ever recorded, capping a decade of unprecedented heat.

Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures, but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas.

Warmer air can hold more water vapour, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.

Impacts are wide-ranging, deadly and increasingly costly, damaging property and destroying crops.

This year saw deadly flooding in Spain and Kenya, multiple violent storms in the United States and the Philippines, and severe drought and wildfires across South America.

In Taiwan, one of the biggest typhoons to hit the island in decades uprooted trees, and triggered floods and landslides in October.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, but the island's weather agency said it was unusual for such a powerful typhoon to hit that late in the year.

Natural disasters around the world caused $310 billion in economic losses in 2024, Zurich-based insurance giant Swiss Re has said.

K.Abe--JT