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.
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A second person has died in a wildfire in Türkiye as the country battles a seventh day of blazes across several regions. The latest death is a firefighter who was tackling the flames in western İzmir province on Tuesday.
Temperatures are reaching at least 40 degrees Celsius or more on the last day of June in southern Europe with countries issuing health and environmental warnings in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,500-year-old city in northern Peru that likely served as a key trade hub connecting ancient coastal, Andean, and Amazonian cultures.
A deadly mass shooting early on Monday (7 July) in Philadelphia's Grays Ferry neighbourhood left three men dead and nine others wounded, including teenagers, as more than 100 shots were fired.
On July 4, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Khankendi, reaffirming the deep-rooted alliance between the two nations.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned renewable energy company, and Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest energy firms, have signed two major agreements as part of their €15 billion (almost $17.6 bn) alliance to expand offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in the UK, Germany, and the United States.
A searing heat wave sweeping in from Western Europe has gripped Greece, prompting emergency measures as temperatures soar across the country.
At the 17th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit on 4 July in Khankendi in Azerbaijan, expressed support to the bid by the Republic of Türkiye to host COP31 in 2026. Antalya has been proposed as host city for COP31.
China has issued high heat warnings across hundreds of regions as East Asia faces its most intense heat wave of 2025.
Australia has pledged $283 million to support a green hydrogen project led by explosives manufacturer Orica, aiming to boost renewable energy production and reduce industrial emissions.
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