European Meteorological Service
“Clear warning to humanity”: global warming exceeded 1.5 degrees for the first twelve months
The sun stands as a red fireball over the Cologne skyline
© Julian Stratenschulte / DPA
The world is in danger of failing dramatically to meet the 1.5 degree target. The European weather service Copenericus has calculated that the temperature mark was last broken for twelve months. Climate researchers are alarmed.
In order to avert the catastrophic consequences of climate change, the international community agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 to limit global warming to well below two degrees, but if possible to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. Last year, the global average temperature was 1.48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900), according to the European Earth observation program Copernicus (C3S).
The 1.5 degree mark was now exceeded between February 2023 and January 2024. “1.5 is a very large number, and it harms us very seriously in terms of heatwaves, droughts, floods, increased storms and water shortages around the world,” said the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Johan Rockström , the AFP news agency. “That’s what 2023 taught us.”
Climate researchers: urgently bring emissions towards zero
“It is clearly a warning to humanity that we are moving towards the agreed 1.5 degree limit faster than expected,” Rockström continued. However, temperatures are likely to drop slightly again once the El Niño weather phenomenon is over.
Last January was, on average, 1.66 degrees warmer than the January average for the years 1850 to 1900. It was the eighth consecutive month that record average temperatures were set for the corresponding month. Scientists have long been warning about the effects of global warming, particularly an increase in extreme weather events and natural disasters.
“The succession of very hot years is bad news for nature and for people who feel the effects of these extreme years,” Joeri Rogelj of Imperial College London told AFP. “If global emissions are not urgently brought towards zero, the world will soon fly past the safety limits agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement.”
After a tough struggle, the World Climate Conference in Dubai in December agreed on a gradual move away from fossil fuels – but without a timetable and without specifying a complete phase-out.