The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) confirmed in its latest Global Climate Highlights report that 2024 was the hottest on record. The study shows an increase of 1.6 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times – defined as levels between 1850 and 1900. Before this, 2023 was the hottest year.
At the 2015 international climate conference in Paris, 196 world leaders agreed to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius and step up efforts to keep warming below 1.5 degrees (2.7 Fahrenheit).
C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess told DW that the world is now “on the brink of exceeding the 1.5 degree threshold.”
He said that although the average of the last two years has already crossed the limit, it does not mean that the Paris Agreement has been broken, because the agreement is based on an average calculated over decades, not on individual years. But “it shows what path we’re on,” he said, warning of the impacts.
“We know from our understanding of the climate system that the warmer the atmosphere, the greater the likelihood of these dangerous extreme weather events, and that’s what really impacts people and ecosystems,” he said.
Rising temperature affects the weather
So far, the global average temperature – as measured over decades – has reached 1.3 degrees, an increase that has already seen devastating consequences.
Wildfires in 2024 scorched parts of the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil and affected several countries in the region, while parts of Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Spain were hit by heavy flooding. A heat wave struck Europe and West Africa, and a tropical storm struck parts of the United States and the Philippines.
Scientists working as part of World Weather Attribution, an organization that studies the relationship between extreme weather and climate change, found that 26 events they looked at last year were likely to get worse due to rising temperatures. Had happened or was more likely to happen.
C3S scientists said humans’ burning of fossil fuels for activities such as heating, industry and transportation is the main cause of global warming, but natural events such as El Nino have also played a role in increasing temperatures over the past two years.
Temperatures are rising due to warming oceans in 2025
El Niño, which typically occurs every two to seven years, is associated with warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, leading to overall mean sea surface temperatures 0.51 °C above the 1991 – 2020 average.
Sea surface temperatures are of particular concern to scientists because about 90% of the heat associated with global warming is stored in the oceans.
“It has served as a buffer for us over the last half century or 70 years,” said Brenda Eck Wurzel, director of scientific excellence. “We’re exceeding that buffer capacity, and we’re doing so in terms of extreme events on land.” “Feeling.” at the Union of Concerned Scientists nonprofit, which was not involved in collecting the C3S data.
Although the El Niño phase ends in 2024, Burgess said the ocean is storing more heat than in previous cycles which could affect heat levels in the coming year. “Until we see it effectively disintegrating in the deep ocean, we’re likely to see much higher temperatures, but probably not record-breaking temperatures,” he said.
limiting global warming
Despite growing concern over rising global temperatures, levels of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere continue to rise. C3S reported that the rate of increase in carbon dioxide was higher than that seen in recent years. The gas, which persists in the atmosphere for 300 to 1000 years, is most linked to rising temperatures.
John Noel, senior climate campaigner at environmental NGO Greenpeace USA, blamed “deliberate obstruction” by fossil fuel officials and political allies for the “serious milestones” of the hottest year ever.
He said in a press release, “We must end the dangerous corporate illusion that fossil fuel expansion can continue without consequences. Instead, we must take a once-in-a-lifetime effort to build the zero-carbon infrastructure needed to secure a future. “The opportunity that comes our way should be accepted, in which everyone is involved.” statement.
Meanwhile, Burgess told DW that without immediate action it is unlikely to keep long-term average temperatures below the 1.5 degree limit. But he also said the world should not give up on those goals because every bit of a degree counts.
,[Climate change] This is not a future problem that we have to deal with or future generations have to deal with, this is a problem that we need to talk about now and we need to make sure that whoever we vote for is one of those Taking action on the issues is vital for us to ensure we can mitigate future climate change and adapt to our current climate,” he said.
Edited by: Tamsin Walker