We’ve screwed up with climate change: societal collapse now emerging as a serious possibility.

Earth is "on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster" and urgent measures are imperative to stop the worst environmental impacts coming up on humans and non-human habitats, according to the latest forecast of the annual climate report published in the journal BioScience.

An international team of scientists from the United States, Germany, Britain, China, Brazil, Australia, and Switzerland warns that of the 35 planetary vital signs that scientists track annually, 25 are at the worst levels ever recorded. The changes could result in the destabilization of the human and non-human habitats, if left unsolved.

In the 2024 report, the authors reviewed recent developments in various different climate-related areas: coral bleaching, toxic orange rivers, solar radiation modification research, researchers’ opinion on global temperatures, climate change as a social justice issue, climate feedback loops and tipping points, and the risk of societal collapse.

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It highlights that the primary drivers of the unfolding climate crisis are human-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses like methane, with 90% of those emissions stemming from the combustion of fossil fuels and industrial processes while the remainder accounting for various forms of human-made land-use change, mainly deforestation.

“The climate emergency is not an isolated issue. Global heating, although it is catastrophic, is merely one aspect of a profound polycrisis that includes environmental degradation, rising economic inequality, and biodiversity loss.

Climate change is a glaring symptom of a deeper systemic issue: ecological overshoot, where human consumption outpaces the Earth's ability to regenerate,”

the report reads, adding that even if global collapse is miraculously avoided, climate change could cause “many millions of additional deaths” by 2050.

The team recommends bold moves to rapidly phase down fossil fuel use as a top priority. This might be accomplished partly through a sufficiently high global carbon price that could restrain emissions by the wealthy while potentially providing funding for much-needed climate mitigation and adaptation programs.

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Another solution is to cap up consumption. The human population grows by around 200,000 people a day and the number of cattle, sheep, and goats, which produce significant greenhouse gas emissions, increases by some 170,000 per day. Both groups require new spaces and new resources, thus contributing to deforestation and waste pile-up.

In the coming years, there will be more extreme weather events, the scientists warn in the report titled “The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth.”

Rivers are drying up

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced in its own report that river levels around the world have continued to descend over the past five years.

Due to climate change, the world's rivers dry up faster than ever before — and 2023 was the driest year on record.

In 2023, more than 50% of all river watersheds experienced abnormal conditions, and most were at a deficit. On the other hand, extreme weather caused major floods across the globe including one without precedents in the Sahara Desert of Africa this year.

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The two phenomena – droughts and floods – are linked due to climate changes and will greatly affect lives, ecosystems, and economies, the report says.

Now in its third year, the 2023 edition is the most comprehensive report by the WMO, including new data on lakes, reservoirs, soil moisture, and glaciers. It contains a global dataset of hydrological variables to support early warning systems for water-related hazards by 2027.

With 3.6 billion people currently facing water shortages, and the number projected to exceed 5 billion by 2050, the report calls for urgent action to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation.

In short, both reports portrait a damning perspective – as the creatures who control the planet, we’ve screwed it up.

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