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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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.
Wildfires fuelled by strong winds swept through parts of western Türkiye on Sunday, forcing evacuations of people from their homes and briefly shutting down Izmir’s airport.
Protesters braved extreme heat in Seville on Sunday to call for debt relief, fairer taxation, and climate action on the eve of a major United Nations summit on global development.
New research highlights that naturally-regenerating forests, often overlooked in climate policies, could remove carbon up to eight times faster than newly planted trees.
The U.S. economy faces a 40% risk of recession in the second half of 2025, JP Morgan analysts said on Wednesday, citing rising tariffs and stagflation concerns.
China has ramped up efforts to protect communities impacted by flood control measures, introducing stronger compensation policies and direct aid from the central government.
Severe rain in Venezuela has caused rivers to overflow and triggered landslides, sweeping away homes and collapsing a highway bridge, with five states affected and no casualties reported so far.
A malfunction in the radar transmission system at the Area Control Center in Milan suspended more than 300 flights at the weekend, across northwest Italy since Saturday evening according to Italy's air traffic controller Enav (National Agency for Flight Assistance).
Thousands of protesters rallied in Bangkok on Saturday, demanding Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra resign as political and economic tensions mount.
Following a deadly glacier collapse in Blatten, near the Swiss Alpine village of Kandersteg, the town is on high alert as melting permafrost and shifting rock threaten another potential disaster after it was buried a month ago.
The Russian government has approved the creation of the Black Sea State Nature Biosphere Reserve, according to a decree published Sunday on the government’s official website. Black Sea Biosphere Reserve is the largest nature reserve in Ukraine which is now under Russian occupation.
Over a third of Tuvalu's population has applied for Australia's climate visa, as rising sea levels threaten to submerge the Pacific nation within decades.
Heatwaves gripping Europe have pushed temperatures above 40°C, fueling wildfires and triggering weather alerts across several countries.
Greek firefighters are battling a large wildfire south of Athens as the country faces its first major heat wave of the summer, with temperatures nearing 40°C and strong winds fuelling the flames.
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