2024 is set to be the hottest year ever recorded, with global temperatures exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Extreme weather events, linked to human-induced climate change, have wreaked havoc worldwide, as CO2 emissions hit record highs despite global green pledges.
This year is set to be the warmest on record, with exceptionally high temperatures likely to persist at least into the early months of 2025, European Union scientists revealed on Monday.
According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), this announcement follows just two weeks after U.N. climate negotiations resulted in a $300 billion agreement to address climate change. However, poorer nations have criticised the deal as inadequate to cover the escalating costs of climate-related disasters.
C3S confirmed that data from January to November establishes 2024 as the hottest year on record, and the first to see global average temperatures exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial baseline.
The previous record-holder was 2023.
This year has been marked by extreme weather events worldwide, including severe droughts in Italy and South America, deadly floods in Nepal, Sudan, and Europe, heatwaves in Mexico, Mali, and Saudi Arabia that claimed thousands of lives, and devastating cyclones in the U.S. and the Philippines.
Scientific studies have linked all these disasters to human-induced climate change.
November was the second-warmest on record, trailing only behind November 2023.
"We're still in near-record-high territory for global temperatures, and that's likely to stay at least for the next few months," said Julien Nicolas, a Copernicus climate researcher, speaking to Reuters.
The principal driver of climate change is carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
Cutting emissions to net zero—an ambition many governments have pledged to achieve—would halt the worsening of global warming. Yet, despite these commitments, global CO2 emissions are projected to reach a record high this year.
Scientists are also observing whether the La Niña weather pattern, which involves the cooling of ocean surface temperatures, might emerge in 2025.
While this could briefly lower global temperatures, it would not interrupt the overarching warming trend caused by emissions. Currently, the world is experiencing neutral conditions, following the conclusion of El Niño—La Niña’s hotter counterpart—earlier this year.
"While 2025 might be slightly cooler than 2024, if a La Niña event develops, this does not mean temperatures will be 'safe' or 'normal'," explained Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London.
"We will still face high temperatures, leading to dangerous heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and tropical cyclones."
C3S records, which date back to 1940, are cross-verified with global temperature data extending as far back as 1850.
Poland will roll out a new military training programme this month as part of a broader plan to train around 400,000 people in 2026, the Defence Minist...
A NATO delegation was received by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in the country's capital on Thursday (6 November) as well as with the deputy per...
Afghanistan and Pakistan will resume peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday, both nations said, after a previous round ended without agreeing a lasting t...
France's Louvre Museum began a security audit a decade ago but the recommended upgrades will not be completed until 2032, the state auditor said in a ...
Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Thursday that it had "a legitimate right to resist (Israeli) occupation", adding that it would support the Lebanese army....
The death toll from a landslide that struck a private bus in India's mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh has risen to 15, with one child still missing, officials and police said on Wednesday.
Heads of state are due to start arriving in the Amazonian city of Belém in a month’s time for the United Nations climate summit, yet much of the infrastructure intended to welcome them remains incomplete.
Azerbaijan is stepping up its renewable energy ambitions with plans to develop eight new solar and wind plants by 2027, backed by $2.8 billion in investment and aimed at exceeding its 2030 climate targets ahead of schedule.
The Champions League match between Qarabağ FK and Chelsea ended 2–2 at the Tofig Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan on Wednesday (5 November).
Brussels airport, Belgium's busiest, reopened on Wednesday morning after drone sightings during the previous night had resulted in it being temporarily closed, although some flights remained disrupted, its website said.
A French court has postponed the trial of a suspect linked to the Louvre jewellery heist in a separate case, citing heavy media scrutiny and concerns about the fairness of the proceedings.
Russia remains in constant contact with Venezuela over tensions in the Caribbean, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
U.S. federal investigators have recovered the flight recorders from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed and erupted in flames during takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least 12 people and halting airport operations.
The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines has climbed to 114, with 127 people still missing, as the storm that devastated the country’s central regions regained strength while heading toward Vietnam, officials said on Thursday.
The world remains far off track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to the 16th edition of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report, released this week.
EU climate ministers will make a last-ditch attempt to pass a new climate change target on Tuesday, in an effort to avoid going to the United Nations COP30 summit in Brazil empty-handed.
Brazil opens three weeks of events linked to the COP30 climate summit, hoping to showcase a world still determined to tackle global warming.
Residents of Hoi An, Vietnam’s UNESCO-listed ancient town, began cleaning up on Saturday as floodwaters receded following days of torrential rain that brought deadly flooding and widespread destruction to the central region.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment