Brussels: The world has officially surpassed the critical threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures for the first time in history, scientists confirmed on Friday.
This milestone, reported by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), underscores the relentless rise in global temperatures driven by human activities. According to C3S, the Earth’s climate is reaching unprecedented levels, with every month in 2024 either the warmest or second warmest since records began.
“The trajectory is just incredible,” said Carlo Buontempo, C3S director, speaking to Reuters about the ongoing temperature increases that continue to push the planet into uncharted territory.
The global average temperature for 2024 was reported to be 1.6°C higher than the baseline period of 1850-1900, a time before industrialization began fueling the massive emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. Last year was confirmed as the hottest on record, with each of the past ten years ranking among the ten warmest in history.
The UK’s Met Office also confirmed that 2024 has exceeded the 1.5°C threshold, estimating a slightly lower average temperature of 1.53°C for the year. U.S. climate scientists are also expected to release their 2024 data later on Friday.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, governments pledged to prevent global temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in an effort to avoid devastating climate impacts. While this breach does not directly violate the agreement, which measures long-term average temperatures, scientists warn that rising greenhouse gas emissions are on track to push the world past the Paris target sooner than expected.
“It’s not a done deal,” Buontempo emphasized. “We have the power to change the trajectory from now on.”
Climate change is now being felt across all continents, with its impacts reaching both the richest and poorest countries alike. In 2024, wildfires in California have resulted in the deaths of at least five people and destroyed hundreds of homes. Meanwhile, Bolivia and Venezuela faced catastrophic fires, and intense flooding ravaged Nepal, Sudan, and Spain. Heatwaves in Mexico and Saudi Arabia led to thousands of fatalities.
The warming atmosphere also fuels more powerful storms and torrential rainfall, as a hotter climate holds more moisture, intensifying downpours. 2024 has seen a record high in water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere.
Despite the escalating frequency of climate-related disasters, political will to invest in emission reductions has been lacking in some countries. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed climate change as a hoax, despite a strong scientific consensus recognizing its human-driven nature and the severe consequences if left unaddressed.
The U.S. experienced 24 climate-related disasters in 2024, each causing damages exceeding $1 billion, including Hurricanes Milton and Helene, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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Chukwumerije Okereke, a professor of global climate governance at the University of Bristol, called the 1.5°C milestone “a rude awakening to key political actors” to act decisively on climate change.
“Despite all the warnings that scientists have given, nations… are continuing to fail to live up to their responsibilities,” Okereke told Reuters.
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C3S also reported a record high of 422 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2024, exacerbating the global warming trend.
Looking ahead, Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, anticipates that 2025 could be one of the hottest years on record but is unlikely to top 2024’s extreme temperatures. “It’s still going to be in the top three warmest years,” he stated, citing the combined impact of human emissions and the climate-enhancing effects of the El Niño weather pattern, which is transitioning to its cooler counterpart, La Niña.
