Climate and environment updates: US fuel economy hits record high

If you thought October was unusually warm, it isn't your imagination. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that last month was the second warmest October since the U.S. began keeping records in 1895. It was also the second driest, with less than an inch of rainfall. It should be more than double that.

October was also the second warmest on record globally when looking at land and ocean temperatures. And it was the warmest ever for land temperature alone.

According to the NOAA, there is now a 99% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year on record globally.

This new data continues 2024's streak of having some of the driest and warmest months on record for states across the U.S.

The heat and high levels of dryness across the country have left 87% of the United States in dry or drought conditions. Widespread drought increases the risk of wildfires, as soil with no moisture burns more easily.

Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, calls the combination of heat and dryness a "double whammy."

New Jersey and Delaware had their driest Octobers on record, and much of the Atlantic Seaboard experienced Octobers with precipitation levels much below average. The region has seen hundreds of wildfires due to these conditions, with New Jersey experiencing a 1,300% increase in fire calls.

In October, much of the United States experienced drought, with dryness expanding and increasing in the Northeast, Great Lakes, Northern Rockies and Plains, Southeast, Deep South, Southwest and the Hawaiian islands.

NOAA says that by February 2025, drought conditions should improve in the Pacific Northwest, Ohio Valley and Western Great Lakes, but are likely to expand and intensify in the Southwest and Atlantic Seaboard.

Despite the destruction they cause, tropical storms can "make or break" drought for the winter, said Svoboda. Without intense rains earlier in the year, there is little or no moisture in the ground come winter.

The dryness impacts wheat crops and livestock forage, potentially increasing food prices. Dryer soil makes wheat crops more vulnerable in colder temperatures because that soil can freeze and kill the plant, decreasing the harvest for the following year.

NOAA also reported that in 2024, 24 different billion-dollar weather and climate disasters impacted the United States through the end of October. This number is only second to last year, with a record 27 individual billion-dollar weather and climate disasters by October.

-ABC News' Charlotte Slovin

Each year, world leaders, climate scientists and environmental advocates gather at COP, the U.N. global climate conference. And each year, getting a handle on the climate crisis becomes more urgent. Another year of lives lost to human-amplified extreme weather. Another year of billion-dollar natural disasters unending people's livelihoods.

But even in the face of this great urgency, some countries have decided not to attend this year's conference.

One of the most surprising no-shows was Papua New Guinea, which boycotted the conference. While criticism of COP is nothing new, it is uncommon for a country to skip it altogether.

"Our non-attendance this year will signal our protest at the big nations," Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape announced in August. "These industrialized nations who are big carbon footprint holders for their lack of quick support to those who are victims of climate change, and those of us who are forest and ocean nations."

The prime minister focused on the historical lack of follow-through and the impact of the climate crisis on the most vulnerable, which he says doesn't end when the conference concludes.

"We are protesting to those who are always coming into these COP meetings, making pronouncements and pledges, yet the financing of these pledges seem distant from victims of climate change and those like PNG who hold substantial forests," he said.

"Our economy needs money yet we are preserving trees as the lungs of the earth, whilst industrialized nations keep on emitting. You have not paid for any conservation," Marape added.

Argentina sent a delegation to COP29 for week one of the conference but left unexpectedly after Argentinian President Javier Milei withdrew the entire Argentinian cohort.

The newly elected far-right president is a staunch climate change denier. Pulling all 85 Argentinian delegates from COP29 triggered concerns about Milei withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, a move he threatened during his presidential campaign last year.

State leaders from many G20 countries have also skipped this year's conference, including the United States, India, Australia, China, Germany, Japan and France. However, all those nations sent delegates to represent their countries.

France's top climate official is boycotting COP29 after Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev criticized the country. Aliyev called the French territories of Algeria and French Polynesia "colonies," and accused France of "environmental degradation" and "brutally suppressing" small island nations.

When announcing her decision not to attend, Anges Pannier-Runacher, France's minister of ecological transition, energy, climate and risk prevention, called Aliyev's comments "unacceptable" and "unjustifiable," adding that Aliyev used his position at COP29 for an "unworthy personal agenda."

-ABC News' Charlotte Slovin

Hurricanes are getting stronger, and humans are primarily to blame. A new study from Climate Central adds to a growing body of evidence that human-amplified climate change is indeed leading to more intense storms.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, found that 84% of Atlantic hurricanes between 2019 and 2023 were, on average, 18 mph stronger because of climate change. That additional wind speed resulted in 30 hurricanes reaching an entire category higher in strength (Category 3 to Category 4 or Category 4 to Category 5, for example) compared to a world without human-amplified climate change.

The researchers say sea surface temperatures are being made hotter by global warming, fueling these rapidly intensifying cyclones. The authors cite Hurricane Milton as an example. They found that Milton intensified by 120 mph in under 36 hours. At the time, ocean temperatures were at record levels or near record levels, which Climate Central's Climate Shift Index: Ocean determined were made 400 to 800 times more likely by climate change.

Over the past half-century, the ocean has stored more than 90% of the excess energy trapped in Earth’s system by greenhouse gases and other factors, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Every hurricane in 2024 was stronger than it would have been 100 years ago," Dr. Daniel Gilford, climate scientist at Climate Central and lead author of the study and report, said in a statement. "Through record-breaking ocean warming, human carbon pollution is worsening hurricane catastrophes in our communities."

The researchers identified three storms between 2019 and 2023 that became Category 5 hurricanes, the highest level on the scale, because of our changing climate.

When the scientists applied the same study methodology to storms in 2024, they determined it was unlikely Beryl and Milton would have reached Category 5 status without the impact of climate change. And they found that every Atlantic hurricane in 2024 saw an increased maximum wind speed, ranging from 9 to 28 mph, because human-amplified climate change resulted in elevated ocean temperatures.

Since 1980, tropical cyclones, a generic term for hurricanes and tropical storms, have cost communities $1.4 trillion in damages and claimed more than 7,200 lives, according to The National Center for Environmental Information.

-ABC News Climate Unit's Matthew Glasser and ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced $325 million in funding to the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) for global clean energy projects. The funding comes as climate leadership conferences continue worldwide, with COP29 underway in Azerbaijan and the G20 summit in Brazil.

The Clean Technology Fund provides money for permanent climate projects for middle-income and developing countries, allowing them to jump the financial hurdle and implement much-needed new green tech and energy.

Projects range from implementing renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, to more efficient energy use in transportation.

Nine countries currently give money to the Fund through grants and loans. Operated by the World Bank, the program distributes money to eligible countries through global development banks.

This financial commitment is another example of the Biden administration trying to lock in climate funding and programs before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Since 2022, the U.S. has contributed $1.56 billion in concessional loans to the fund, and in October of this year, they contributed another $20 million in grants. Since it was established in 2008, the Fund has contributed $7.28 billion in loans and grants globally.

A report released last week highlighted that advancing climate progress in middle-income countries is crucial for setting the world on a path to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. These countries are not only the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but they also host the majority of the world’s nature and biodiversity.

-ABC News' Charlotte Slovin