Cop27 kicks off as UN warns that rate of sea level rises is doubling

Sameh Shoukry, president of Cop27, speaking as the UN climate summit got underway yesterday, Sunday, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Picture: Peter Dejong/AP

The last eight years are on track to be the warmest on record, while the rise in sea levels has doubled in the last 30 years — just some of the “dramatic telltale signs of the impacts of climate change”.

That is according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which warned that the toll taken by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations and accumulated heat will continue unless firmer action is taken.