For the first time on record, Earth has experienced twelve consecutive months with temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era. Europe's climate monitor announced Thursday that this unprecedented warmth serves as a stark \"warning to humanity\".
The year 2023 was marked by extreme weather events, including fierce storms, prolonged droughts, and devastating fires. These conditions were exacerbated by the naturally-occurring El Niño phenomenon, which contributed to record-breaking temperatures, making 2023 potentially the hottest year in the last 100,000 years.
According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the trend of extreme temperatures has persisted into 2024. From February 2023 to January 2024, global warming reached 1.52 degrees Celsius above the 19th-century benchmark.
While this surpasses the Paris Agreement's critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, scientists caution that it does not indicate a permanent breach. The 1.5-degree limit is measured over decades, and ongoing efforts are crucial to mitigate long-term climate impacts.
Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, emphasized the severe repercussions of reaching this milestone. \"We are touching 1.5 degrees Celsius and we see the cost, the social costs and economic costs,\" he stated. \"1.5 is a very big number and it hurts us really badly in terms of heat waves, droughts, floods, reinforced storms, water scarcity across the entire world. That is what 2023 has taught us.\"
Reference(s):
World sees first 12 months above 1.5 °C warming level: climate monitor
cgtn.com
