According to Copernicus, the EU’s climate monitoring service, 2024 will become the hottest year ever recorded, with global temperatures rising more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
This marks a significant milestone in the ongoing climate crisis and underscores the urgent need for more aggressive action to combat climate change.
The world has already seen extreme weather events this year including devastating flooding in Spain and the destructive Hurricane Milton in the United States.
October, which was the second hottest on record, reflects this disturbing trend.
Copernicus reported that global temperatures for the month were second only to October 2023, indicating a continuing upward trajectory.
Global temperatures and greenhouse gas levels hit new highs, intensifying the call for change.The agency forecasts that 2024 will exceed 1.55°C above the long-term average from 1850-1900, the period considered pre-industrial.
While this doesn’t violate the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to well below 2°C, it highlights how close we are to breaching the 1.5°C threshold.
Importantly, the Paris Agreement targets are based on multi-year averages rather than individual years, but the trajectory is clear.
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of Copernicus Climate Change Service, emphasized that this record-breaking year should act as a catalyst for more ambitious climate action at the upcoming COP29 conference in Azerbaijan.
As global temperatures continue to break records, so too do concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, further fueling the urgency for immediate, bold steps in reducing emissions.
With this new milestone, there is a pressing need for countries to adopt stronger policies and take bolder actions to address the climate crisis before it becomes irreversible.
The upcoming climate talks will be a critical moment for nations to align their efforts toward a sustainable future.