Copernicus Climate Change Service says results a ‘large and continuing shift’ in the climate
The world has baked for 12 consecutive months in temperatures 1.5C (2.7F) greater than their average before the fossil fuel era, new data shows.
Temperatures between July 2023 and June 2024 were the highest on record, scientists found, creating a year-long stretch in which the Earth was 1.64C hotter than in preindustrial times.
The findings do not mean world leaders have already failed to honour their promises to stop the planet heating 1.5C by the end of the century – a target that is measured in decadal averages rather than single years – but that scorching heat will have exposed more people to violent weather. A sustained rise in temperatures above this level also increases the risk of uncertain but catastrophic tipping points.
One of the problems with these metrics is a lot of different authorities use different estimates of what the pre-industrial average is. One thing we can all agree on, though, is that temperatures are hitting record highs and global temperatures have far exceeded natural changes for anything ever recorded, and it’s not going to stop.