Red alert on climate crisis as number of people going hungry around world doubles, UN report says [Video]

The number of people going hungry around the world has more than doubled in the past four years, as the world’s leading weather agency sounded a “red alert” on the climate crisis.

2023 was the hottest year on record, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) declared on Tuesday, echoing a host of other scientific bodies that have drawn the same conclusion.

The global average temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius hotter than in pre-industrial times in 2023, drawing perilously close to 1.5C – a critical threshold agreed by world leaders, beyond which lie potentially irreversible impacts.

Scientists have warned that 2024 is shaping up to be another record-breaking year of high temperatures.

“Never have we been so close to the 1.5C lower limit of the Paris Agreement. The WMO community is sounding the red alert to the world,” WMO secretary general Celeste Saulo …