2024 is on track to be the warmest year ever, European climate agency Copernicus revealed Thursday.
This year is also likely to be the first above 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than pre-industrial times.
That’s 0.03 degrees Celsius (0.05 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the old record in 2023.
Earth’s string of 13 straight months with a new average heat record came to an end in July as the natural El Niño climate pattern ebbed, the European climate agency Copernicus announced.
“Our record goes back to 1940. But even it’s quite possible that this this record is stamped on a much longer time series,” Carlo Buontempo, Copernicus director said.
American, British and Japanese records, which start in the mid-19th century, show the last decade has been the hottest since regular measurements were taken and likely in about 120,000 years, according to some scientists.
“2024 not only will be, in all likelihood, the warmest on record, but will also be the first calendar year above the psychologically important threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial.”
Copernicus uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world and then reanalyzes it with computer simulations.
While 2024 has been extremely warm, what kicked this summer into new territory was a warmer-than-usual Antarctic winter, according to Copernicus. The same thing happened on the southern continent last year when the record was set in early July.
The threshhold is the benchmark limit that the global community hoped to stay within in the 2015 Paris climate accord to avoid the most severe effects of warming.
The global community regularly gather to discuss climate issues.The UN climate conference known as COP is one of the most frequent meeting of the sort.
In 1987, the Montreal Protocol Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer regulating the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made chemicals referred to as ozone depleting substances (ODS), was adopted.
More “complex” conversations
Buontempo says that 37 years later, the conversation has become more “complex”.
“If you look up back at the ozone hole, we managed to get together as a global community and find a solution. Now the problem is incredibly more complex. Has to do with our economic model, has to do with our way of using resources. And inevitably, this means much more complex conversation.”
Climate scientists say most of the record heat results from human activities which produce carbon dioxide and methane emmisions.
This year’s UN climate talks will notably focus on how to finance the energy transition transition and adaptation to climate change.
Decision-makers will have a new chance to act during COP29 which kicks off on Monday in Azerbaijan.
The impacts of a warmer climate has been seen in this year’s extreme weather events.
The World Meteorological Organization said many African nations are spending up to 9% of their budgets for climate adaptation policies.
