EU\u2019s climate monitor says climate crisis is pushing temperatures to levels never experienced by modern humans
\n Anahuac
\nThe world has just experienced the first full year in which global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial times, scientists have said.
\nThe milestone was confirmed by the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) on Friday, which said the climate crisis is pushing the planet\u2019s temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans.
\n\u201cThe trajectory is just incredible,\u201d C3S director Carlo Buontempo told the Reuters news agency, describing how every month in 2024 was the warmest or second-warmest for that month since records began.
\nThe planet\u2019s average temperature in 2024 was 1.6 degrees Celsius higher than in 1850-1900, the \u201cpre-industrial period\u201d before humans began burning CO2-emitting fossil fuels on a large scale, C3S added.
\nThis does not mean the internationally agreed 1.5C warming threshold has been permanently breached, but the C3S said that was drawing dangerously near.
\n\u201cThe primary reason for these record temperatures is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere\u201d from the burning of coal, oil and gas, said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead at Copernicus.
\n\u201cAs greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, temperatures continue to increase, including in the ocean, sea levels continue to rise, and glaciers and ice sheets continue to melt.\u201d
\nLast year eclipsed 2023\u2019s temperature in the European database by an eighth of a degree Celsius (more than a fifth of a degree Fahrenheit). That\u2019s an unusually large jump; until the last couple of super-hot years, global temperature records were exceeded only by hundredths of a degree, scientists said.
\nThe last 10 years are the 10 hottest on record and are likely the hottest in 125,000 years, Burgess said.
\nJuly 10 was the hottest day recorded by humans, with the globe averaging 17.16 degrees Celsius (62.89 degrees Fahrenheit), Copernicus found.
\nOn Friday, Britain\u2019s Met Office confirmed 2024\u2019s likely breach of 1.5C, while estimating a slightly lower average temperature rise of 1.53C for the year.
\nUnited States scientists are also expected to publish their 2024 climate data on Friday.
\n\u2018A rude awakening\u2019
\nIn 2015, nearly 200 nations agreed in Paris that limiting warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels offered the best chance of preventing the most catastrophic repercussions of climate change.
\nBut the world is nowhere on track to meeting that target.
\nThe effects of climate change are now visible on every continent, affecting people from the richest to the poorest countries on earth.
\nWildfires raging in California this week have killed at least 10 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.
\nIn 2024, Bolivia and Venezuela also suffered disastrous fires, while torrential floods hit Nepal, Sudan and Spain, and heatwaves in Mexico and Saudi Arabia killed thousands.
\nClimate change is also worsening storms and torrential rainfall, because a hotter atmosphere can hold more water, leading to intense downpours. The amount of water vapour in the planet\u2019s atmosphere reached a record high in 2024.
\nBut even as the costs of these disasters spiral, the political will to invest in curbing emissions has waned in some countries.
\nUS President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, has called climate change a \u201choax\u201d, despite the global scientific consensus that it is human-caused and will have severe consequences if not addressed.
\nChukwumerije Okereke, a professor of global climate governance at the United Kingdom\u2019s University of Bristol, said crossing the 1.5C milestone should serve as \u201ca rude awakening to key political actors to get their act together\u201d.
\n\u201cDespite all the warnings that scientists have given, nations \u2026 are continuing to fail to live up to their responsibilities,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EU\u2019s climate monitor says climate crisis is pushing temperatures to levels never experienced by modern humans Anahuac The world has just experienced the first full year in which global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial times, scientists have said. The milestone was confirmed by the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) on Friday, which said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-454672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n