The US experienced its fourth-hottest year on record in 2021, while soaring levels of atmospheric methane helped push global temperatures towards all-time records, a pair of reports released on Monday show.
Underscoring the growing humanitarian and financial cost of climate change, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the death toll for weather-related disasters in the 48 mainland US states and the District of Columbia was 688 last year, more than twice 2020's tally of 262.
Year 2021 "was marked by extremes across the US, including exceptional warmth, devastating severe weather and the second-highest number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters on record," NOAA said.
Twenty separate weather incidents cost the US $1 billion or more, the second-most billion-dollar events recorded in a calendar year behind 2020, which saw 22, the agency said.
The costly disasters included four hurricanes, three tornados, two floods, a cold wave, and western wildfires, droughts, and heatwaves.
Meanwhile in Europe, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said a substantial rise in atmospheric methane levels helped propel global temperatures in 2021 towards the highest ever recorded.
Copernicus published a report determining that last year was the fifth-warmest in the 52-year European record, slightly hotter than 2015 and 2018.
The last seven years rank as the hottest on record, with 21 of the 22 warmest years occurring since 2000.
Copernicus said atmospheric methane increased by a record amount last year, to 1,876 parts per billion.
The supercharged greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the initial warming impact of carbon dioxide comes from natural sources, such as swamps and termites, as well as human activity that includes oil and gas infrastructure, cow emissions, rice production and landfills.
The multiple sources make it difficult to say with precision which are responsible for the overall spike, but there are new ways to track some previously hard-to-detect methane emitters.
The jump in global atmospheric methane comes as satellite and ground-based sensing has rendered the gas newly visible to cameras. In one recent example, a pipeline-safety measure taken for highway construction in northeast Texas in November led to methane release at an hourly rate equal to a year of CO₂ emissions from 2,500 cars.
Responding to the NOAA report, Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the statistics "sobering."
"The devastating toll and trauma imposed by extreme weather and climate disasters have, and continue to, hit some people harder than others with communities of colour, low-income communities, and communities that have endured multiple disasters often bearing the brunt of its impacts," she said.
NOAA reported that 2021 ranked as America's fourth-warmest year in a 127-year period of record, with average temperatures of 12.5 Celsius in the contiguous US. December 2021 was the warmest on record – 3.75c above average.
The US is the world’s biggest CO₂ polluter historically, and shows no sign of abating despite White House ambition to halve 2005 emissions by the end of the decade.
A preliminary analysis of last year's emissions suggests the US is moving in the opposite direction, with greenhouse gas emissions rising by 6.2 per cent — a faster rate than gross domestic product growth of 3.8 per cent, according to research firm Rhodium Group.
The result marks a 17 per cent leap from 2020 emissions, propelled by increased coal-burning and freight hauling.
Other scientific groups, including NASA, the UK Met Office and Berkeley Earth, maintain climate records that go back to the 19th century and are expected to release their 2021 results later this month.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammed Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Saeed Ahmed, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Muhammed Jumah, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 109-3 (10ovs)
Salt 30, Malan 24, Trego 23, Jayasuriya 2-14
Bangla Tigers (9.4ovs)
Fletcher 52, Rossouw 31
Bangla Tigers win by six wickets
Playing records of the top 10 in 2017
How many games the top 10 have undertaken in the 2017 ATP season
1. Rafael Nadal 58 (49-9)
2. Andy Murray 35 (25-10)
3. Roger Federer 38 (35-3)
4. Stan Wawrinka 37 (26-11)
5. Novak Djokovic 40 (32-8)
6. Alexander Zverev 60 (46-14)
7. Marin Cilic 43 (29-14)
8. Dominic Thiem 60 (41-19)
9. Grigor Dimitrov 48 (34-14)
10. Kei Nishikori 43 (30-13)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Our family matters legal consultant
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
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15 years, 235 days old
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15 years, 271 days old
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16 years, 30 days old
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16 years, 68 days old
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
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SCORES
Multiply Titans 81-2 in 12.1 overs
(Tony de Zorzi, 34)
bt Auckland Aces 80 all out in 16 overs
(Shawn von Borg 4-15, Alfred Mothoa 2-11, Tshepo Moreki 2-16).
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
Our family matters legal consultant
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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