| 2024 becomes warmest year on record, 1st to breach 1.5 deg C Guardrail | | |  Agencies
NEW DELHI, Jan 10: The year 2024 was the hottest year on record, and the first with a global average temperature 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, European climate agency Copernicus confirmed on Friday. Every month from January to June 2024 was the warmest ever recorded for those months. From July to December, except for August, each month was the second warmest on record, behind 2023, it said. According to scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), 2024 was the hottest year since global temperature tracking began in 1850.
The average global temperature was 15.1 degrees Celsius - 0.72 degrees above the 1991-2020 average and 0.12 degrees higher than that in 2023, the previous record-holder. Scientists noted that the average temperature in 2024 was 1.60 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 baseline, the period before human activities like burning fossil fuels began significantly impacting the climate.
This is the first time the average global temperature has remained 1.5 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average for an entire calendar year. However, a permanent breach of the 1.5-degree Celsius limit specified in the Paris Agreement refers to long-term warming over a 20- or 30-year period.
That said, experts feel that the world is now entering a phase where temperatures will be consistently above this threshold.
Harjeet Singh, climate activist and the founding director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, said the world is entering a new climate reality - one where extreme heatwaves, devastating floods, and intense storms will become increasingly frequent and severe.
"To prepare for this future, we must urgently scale up adaptation efforts across every level of society - redesigning our homes, cities, and infrastructure, and transforming how we manage water, food, and energy systems," he said.
Singh said the world must move from fossil fuels to clean energy quickly and fairly, making sure no one is left behind, and that rich countries have a bigger responsibility to take bold steps.
C3S scientists said that in 2024, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere hit their highest annual levels ever recorded. Carbon dioxide levels were 2.9 parts per million (ppm) higher than in 2023, reaching 422 ppm, while methane levels rose by 3 parts per billion (ppb), reaching 1897 ppb.
Sea ice extent in the Arctic and around Antarctica, which is an essential indicator of the stability of Earth's climate, reached "record or near-record low values" for the second year in a row.
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