2020 was a year of unremitting extreme climate events, from heat waves to wildfires to hurricanes, many of which scientists have directly linked to human-caused climate change .

IMPORTANT ISSUES

The recent wave of net zero targets has put the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C within striking distance. The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) has calculated that global warming by 2100 could be as low as 2.1°C as a result of all the net zero pledges announced as of November 2020.

Winter rainfall areas received a considerable amount of rain.

Global warming of 2°C would lead to about 230 billion tonnes of carbon being released from the world’s soil, new research suggests.

Let’s be clear: the acute water challenges that plague South Africa are probably going to be with us for a long time. On 26 October 2020, the World Meteorological Organisation released its “State of the Climate Report in Africa 2019” that lays bare the dire situation of multi-year droughts and acceleration of further extreme weather events in Africa.