For the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5 Celsius across an entire year, according to the EU’s climate service.
World leaders made a commitment in 2015 to attempt to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 Celsius, which is thought to be essential to help prevent the most lethal effects.
Although the historic “Paris Agreement” is not broken by this first year-long violation, it gets the world closer to doing so after a long while.
Scientists suggest global warming can still be delayed by acting quickly to reduce carbon emissions.
“This far exceeds anything that is acceptable,” a former chairman of the UN’s climate body, Prof Sir Bob Watson, said on Tuesday.
“Look what’s happened this year with only 1.5C – we’ve seen floods, we’ve seen droughts, we’ve seen heatwaves and wildfires all over the world, and we’re starting to see less agricultural productivity and some problems with water quality and quantity.”
The goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 Celsius over “pre-industrial” levels (before people began using fossil fuels extensively) represents a major aspect of efforts made by the international community to combat climate change.
According to a historic UN assessment from 2018, there were far more risks associated with 2 Celsius of warming than there were with 1.5 Celsius, including the possibility of extreme heatwaves, rising sea levels, and the extinction of wildlife.
However, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service during the past year indicates that temperatures have continued to rise at an alarming rate.
According to data released, temperature increased by 1.52 Celsius between February 2023 and January 2024.
While scientist groups differ on how much the planet has warmed up, they all agree that Earth is currently experiencing its warmest period since modern records began, and most certainly will for a very long time.
The most recent climate warning coincides with the announcement that the UK’s Labour Party is making a significant U-turn and abandoning its promise to spend £28 billion annually on green investments.
In September, the Conservatives also conceded on some important fronts, which indicates that the two major parties have backed down from the kind of commitments that most climate scientists believe are necessary to prevent the worst effects of global warming.
