2023 defied climate expectations. It wasn’t just hotter than predicted — it was strangely hot. Now, scientists are piecing together what caused this anomaly, raising fresh concerns about Earth’s climate systems.
Gavin Schmidt, NASA’s top climate modeller at the Goddard Institute for Space Science, admitted to feeling “humbled” by 2023’s extraordinary temperatures. Writing in Nature earlier this year, Schmidt noted that the year was warmer than models anticipated. The deviation, unexplained at first, sparked worries that climate change is entering uncharted territory.
At December’s American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting, the world's largest Earth science conference, experts revisited the mystery. Like detectives solving a case, scientists meticulously ruled out some “suspects” while identifying others.
Key Suspects Behind the Heat Surge
El Niño
The natural El Niño event, which warms the tropical Pacific, began in 2023, contributing to global temperatures. Yet the warming exceeded even El Niño’s usual influence, raising eyebrows.
Cleaner Air from Shipping
New rules to reduce sulphur in ship fuel have lowered pollution levels. However, cleaner air allows more sunlight to reach the ocean surface, which adds to global warming.
Volcano and Solar Activity
The Hunga Tonga eruption in 2022 injected water vapour into the atmosphere but also sulphates, which slightly cooled the Earth. Meanwhile, the Sun reached its peak activity cycle, contributing minimal extra heat.
Cloud Cover Changes
Research by Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute found Earth reflected less sunlight in 2023 — its dimmest year yet. Reduced cloud cover, particularly over northern mid-latitudes, amplified warming. Cleaner air may have played a role, alongside long-term climate shifts that are altering cloud patterns.
The Bigger Picture
Global warming is accelerating. Some scientists argue that the drop in sulphur emissions is now speeding up heating, while changing cloud dynamics add to the uncertainty.
What’s Next
GISS modellers are now combining the latest data on sulphur emissions, cloud dynamics, and sunlight reflectivity into updated climate simulations. Schmidt expects these runs to clarify the contributions of various factors and potentially reshape projections for Earth’s future.
The findings are clear: warming is unlikely to slow any time soon.
Global tensions are rising as China’s curbs on critical mineral exports threaten to derail supply chains for automakers, defense firms, and tech giants around the world.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reports that March 2025 was the second-warmest globally and the warmest on record in Europe, signaling ongoing changes in global climate trends.
China's glaciers have shrunk by 26% since 1960 due to accelerating global warming, with thousands of glaciers disappearing. The rapid melt poses significant risks to freshwater availability and could intensify competition for resources, according to recent data and a UNESCO report.
Record greenhouse gas levels in 2024 have driven global temperatures to an all-time high, accelerating the loss of glaciers and sea ice, raising sea levels, and bringing the world closer to a key climate threshold, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
A WaterAid study finds major cities swinging between droughts and floods as climate change disrupts water cycles. Asia faces more floods, while Europe and the Middle East dry out. Cities like Hangzhou and Jakarta suffer extreme shifts, urging urgent infrastructure adaptation.
President Donald J. Trump will deliver a televised address to the nation at 10:00 P.M. tonight from the White House, following a United States military operation in Iran that he described as “very successful.”
The Netherlands has officially returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, more than a century after they were looted during Britain’s 1897 invasion of the former Kingdom of Benin, now in southern Nigeria.
President Donald Trump announced that US forces struck three Iranian nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, marking direct American involvement in the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday held a series of high-level meetings in Istanbul with senior officials from the UN, Qatar, Pakistan, and Iran, amid growing regional tension following Israel's attacks on Iran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched another wave of drone attacks on Israel overnight, in what it calls the 19th round of strikes targeting strategic sites across the country.
Iranian missiles struck multiple locations across Israel and neighbouring regions early Friday morning, including a Microsoft office complex, according to emergency responders and local media reports.
A high-speed tram derailment in central Gothenburg, Sweden, has left at least eight people injured late on Thursday (19 June), after the vehicle slammed into a snack bar on Avenyn Avenue.
The 2025 G7 Leaders’ Summit was held June 15–17 in Kananaskis, Alberta, under Canada’s presidency. Prime Minister Mark Carney framed the meeting around priorities of protecting communities, energy and climate security, the digital transition, and future partnerships.
The USS Nimitz is heading to the Middle East amid tensions between Israel and Iran. The U.S. aircraft carrier has a decades-long history in the region, from the 1979 hostage crisis to modern deployments, often serving as a key asset during periods of rising friction with Iran.
China has unveiled a mosquito-sized bionic drone designed for covert military operations and battlefield reconnaissance, marking a major advance in micro-robotics and stealth technology as part of the country’s growing focus on next-generation warfare capabilities.
A 32°C heatwave expected to grip England has been made a 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a rapid scientific analysis released Thursday.
In 19 EU countries, the share of renewable energy sources in net electricity generation decreased in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the first quarter of 2024. The largest drops were recorded in Greece (-12.4%), Lithuania (-12.0%) and Slovakia (-10.6%).
The first side event of the Global South NGO Platform, initiated by Azerbaijan, was held in Bonn, Germany this week.
Egypt’s first integrated solar and battery storage plant will deliver dispatchable clean energy, enhance grid stability and manage peak demand. The project is expected to generate approximately 3,000 GWh of clean energy and avoid up to 1.4 million metric tonnes of emissions per year.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves, has announced a record £2.5 billion in additional funding this week to advance the development of the world’s first fusion power plant.
President Donald J. Trump will deliver a televised address to the nation at 10:00 P.M. tonight from the White House, following a United States military operation in Iran that he described as “very successful.”
The Netherlands has officially returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, more than a century after they were looted during Britain’s 1897 invasion of the former Kingdom of Benin, now in southern Nigeria.
President Donald Trump announced that US forces struck three Iranian nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, marking direct American involvement in the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday held a series of high-level meetings in Istanbul with senior officials from the UN, Qatar, Pakistan, and Iran, amid growing regional tension following Israel's attacks on Iran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched another wave of drone attacks on Israel overnight, in what it calls the 19th round of strikes targeting strategic sites across the country.
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