With 2024 coming to a close as the hottest year on record, the year caps off what United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called a decade of deadly heat.
"The top 10 hottest years on record have happened in the last 10 years, including 2024. This is climate breakdown in real time," Mr Guterres said in his new year address. The World Meteorological Organisation says the last 12 months have been the hottest since records began, and is set to publish final consolidated global temperature figures for 2024 in January, with the full state of the global climate report for the year to be released in March.
Pushing past Paris Agreement
In November, the WMO reported that the average surface air temperature from January to September was 1.54°C higher than the pre-industrial average. Passing the 1.5°C global warming limit set in 2015 under the Paris climate agreement.
“This year we saw record-breaking rainfall and flooding events and terrible loss of life in so many countries, causing heartbreak to communities on every continent," said WMO secretary general Celeste Saulo. "Tropical cyclones caused a terrible human and economic toll, most recently in the French overseas department of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean."
A report from World Weather Attribution and Climate Central released on Friday shows that climate change worsened 26 out of 29 weather events studied – killing at least 3,700 people and displacing millions. The report indicates that climate change added 41 days of extreme heat in 2024, negatively affecting human health and ecosystems.
Charting a way forward
The WMO is set to mark its 75th anniversary in 2025, and Ms Saulo said the message of the agency will be that "if we want a safer planet, we must act now. It’s our responsibility. It’s a common responsibility, a global responsibility".
Mr Guterres has called on countries to put the world on a safer path in 2025 by dramatically slashing emissions and supporting the transition to a renewable future. "We must exit this road to ruin – and we have no time to lose," he said.
Looking into 2025, the WMO has said there will be a strong focus on the cryosphere – the frozen parts of the Earth including sea ice, ice sheets and frozen ground – as it is the international year of glaciers’ preservation.
Dr Susana Hancock, global mountains director at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, previously told The National: "1.5°C really needs to be a hard limit, and it's not an arbitrary number. It is based on science, and what we're seeing in the Arctic and the cryosphere. For the glaciated cold regions of the world, mountains, and the Himalayas, the Andes, the Alps, 1.5°C isn't safe."
Nations at risk due to climate change – in pictures
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The specs
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The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Specs
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Range: 400km
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