The Copernicus Climate Change Service has confirmed that 2024 was “the warmest year on record globally”.
It was also the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its pre-industrial level.
Copernicus has pointed to “human-induced climate change” as the primary driver of extreme air and sea surface temperatures.
It said other factors including the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) contributed to the “unusual temperatures observed” last year.
Copernicus
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said that all of the internationally produced global temperature datasets show that 2024 “was the hottest year since records began in 1850”.
“Humanity is in charge of its own destiny but how we respond to the climate challenge should be based on evidence.
“The future is in our hands – swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate,” he warned.
According to scientists monthly temperature patterns provide a crucial clue to understanding some of the factors leading to 2024 becoming the hottest year on record.
Evidence suggests that 2024 was the warmest year on record for Europe – with an average temperature of 10.69°C, 1.47°C above the average for the 1991-2020 reference period, and 0.28°C warmer than the previous record set in 2020.
Temperatures
Meanwhile spring and summer were the warmest on record for Europe, with the average temperature for spring (March-May) 1.50°C higher than the 1991-2020 seasonal average and the average temperature for summer (June–August) 1.54°C above the 1991-2020 seasonal average.
Scientists found that the first half of the year was particularly warm, with each month recording higher global temperatures than the same month in any previous year.
Overall this contributed to a 13-month streak of record-breaking monthly temperatures, which ended in June.
From July onward, global temperature anomalies remained significantly above average.
According to Copernicus August 2024 was as warm as August 2023, and the other months from July to December ranked as the second warmest on record, behind 2023.
However July 22 marked the hottest day “ever recorded” with the global temperature hitting 17.16°C.
The climate change service highlighted in its latest report released today (Friday, January 10) that 2024 was the first year to “register an annual temperature anomaly exceeding the 1.5°C threshold above the pre-industrial level”.
Scientists have warned that the two-year average for 2023-2024 also exceeds this threshold.
” While this does not mean we have breached the limit set by the Paris Agreement — this refers to temperature anomalies averaged over at least 20 years — it underscores that global temperatures are rising beyond what modern humans have ever experienced,” Copernicus outlined.