The world just had its hottest year in an estimated 100,000 years, and 2024 is likely to be even hotter.
That’s the key takeaway from a new update from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service today, which confirmed that 2023 was the warmest year since records began in 1850, with the global average air surface temperature reaching 14.98 degrees Celsius – an increase of 0.17 degrees compared to previous years. record from 2016.
The result means the average temperature was 1.48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, just below the 1.5 degrees Celsius target adopted by governments under the Paris Agreement.
Scientists say the combination of elevated concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions and a powerful El Nino effect has ‘shattered’ previous records and fueled a series of weather extremes in 2023.
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, told reporters that the results were a “dramatic testimony to how far we are now from the climate in which our civilization developed.”
Scientists also predicted that the El Nino effect will continue this year, meaning it is very likely that temperature records will be broken again.
Copernicus said it is “likely” that the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold set in the Paris Agreement will be exceeded, albeit temporarily, in the coming months.
Experts warned that higher temperatures would increase the risk of extreme weather events such as floods and heat waves, which could impact economic growth, trigger humanitarian crises and undermine food security.
That’s why politicians and campaigners once again called on political and business leaders to step up their efforts to increase climate resilience and tackle still-rising global emissions.
“The speed at which temperature records are tumbling is truly terrifying,” says Green MP Caroline Lucas. “It’s only eight years since the Paris Agreement required countries to try to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and we are on track to bring that critical threshold within reach. If this doesn’t convince the government that we need to take action to accelerate climate action, what then?
“Yet Rishi Sunak thinks it is acceptable to push through even more fossil fuel extraction with the dangerous Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill. The Prime Minister’s deliberate refusal to do what needs to be done amounts to a climate crime – delay is The New Denial. Instead of building a better future for our children, he is condemning them to a world whose vital climate support system is collapsing.”
Aakash Naik, campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “2023 has proven to be a record year for all the wrong reasons. As rising temperatures wreaked havoc on millions of lives, fossil fuel ‘supermajors’ handed over almost £100 billion to shareholders – their biggest payouts. in history.
“Oil and gas must be left in the ground to prevent the climate crisis from accelerating, but the UK government is about to hand the industry annual permits to keep drilling for years to come in a false quest for energy security. Real leaders would stop fossil fuel companies that profit from the climate catastrophe and force them to pay for the damage they cause around the world.”
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