The year 2024 may go down as the hottest on record, with global temperatures exceeding critical thresholds, according to Europe’s climate monitoring agency, Copernicus.
The organisation announced that extraordinary heat between January and November has already ensured that 2024 will surpass 2023 as the warmest year ever recorded.
“At this point, it is effectively certain that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record,” stated the Copernicus Climate Change Service in its latest bulletin.
The agency relies on billions of data points from satellites, weather stations, ships, and aircraft to track climate trends, with records dating back to 1940.
Evidence from ice cores, tree rings, and coral skeletons suggests that the current warming is likely the highest the Earth has experienced in the last 125,000 years.
Last month was the second-warmest November on record, with countries like Portugal recording their hottest November to date. The average air temperature in Portugal was 2.69°C higher than the 1981-2010 average, the nation’s meteorological agency confirmed.
Scientists warn that 2024 will mark the first full calendar year where temperatures exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels—a threshold agreed upon under the Paris Climate Accord to prevent severe planetary damage. However, the world remains far off track, with current climate policies projected to lead to 3.1°C of warming, according to the United Nations.
The consequences of this warming are already evident. This year, extreme weather events have caused devastation worldwide, from flooding in Spain and Kenya to wildfires in South America.
Deadly tropical storms and prolonged droughts are becoming increasingly frequent and intense due to rising global temperatures.
While wealthier nations pledged $300 billion annually by 2035 at the UN climate talks (COP29), many experts argue this funding falls short of what is needed to combat the escalating climate crisis.
