The past year has seen the hottest global temperatures ever recorded, according to data analysed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
For the twelve months between July 2023 and June 2024, the Earth averaged 1.64 degrees Celsius hotter than pre-industrial times, with each month exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above that baseline.
While this extended period of extreme heat doesn’t necessarily indicate a failure to meet the global target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 (a target measured in decadal averages), it does raise concerns about increased exposure to severe weather events.
Scientists warn that sustained temperatures above 1.5 degrees Celsius also heighten the risk of reaching critical tipping points in the climate system, potentially leading to catastrophic consequences.
According to The Guardian, Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which analysed the data, said the results were not a statistical oddity but a “large and continuing shift” in the climate.
Buontempo stressed the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions: “Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm,” he said. “This is inevitable unless we stop adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the oceans.”
Copernicus, a scientific institution associated with the European Union’s space program, utilises data from satellites, ships, aircraft, and weather stations to monitor key climate indicators.
Their analysis identified June 2024 as the hottest June ever recorded, marking the 12th consecutive month with temperatures exceeding the 1.5-degree-Celsius threshold compared to the 1850-1900 baseline.
The scientists acknowledge that some months only marginally surpassed the 1.5-degree threshold, potentially leading to discrepancies in data from other climate agencies.
Regardless of the source, the scientific consensus is clear: rising greenhouse gas emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, disrupting weather patterns. As the planet warms, both human societies and ecosystems face increasing challenges in adapting.
“This is not good news at all,” said Aditi Mukherji, a director at research institute CGIAR and co-author of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. “We know that extreme events increase with every increment of global warming – and at 1.5C, we witnessed some of the hottest extremes this year.”
Mukherji compared 1C of global heating to a mild fever and 1.5C a medium-to-high-grade fever. “Now imagine a human body with [that] temperature for years. Will that person function normally any more?”
“That’s currently our Earth system,” she added. “It is a crisis.”
(With information from The Guardian)
