2024 has entered the record books as the hottest year on record across the globe, with temperatures crossing for the first time a threshold that scientists warn represents a major strain on the Earth.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service on Friday confirmed predictions from earlier in the year that 2024 would exceed 2023’s record. Citing data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the group said the global average temperature was 15.10°C (59.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in 2023, 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average, and 0.12°C above 2023.
“All of the internationally produced global temperature datasets show that 2024 was the hottest year since records began in 1850,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, in a press release on the organization’s website.
“Humanity is in charge of its own destiny but how we respond to the climate challenge should be based on evidence. The future is in our hands — swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate,” he said.
In a major cause for concern, the record reached 1.60°C above an estimate of the 1850-1900 temperature designated to be the pre-industrial level. 2024 became the first calendar year that has reached more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level, exceeding a level that scientists say could lead to significantly more severe impacts on the planet and its ecosystems.
“Each year in the last decade is one of the ten warmest on record. We are now teetering on the edge of passing the 1.5ºC level defined in the Paris Agreement and the average of the last two years is already above this level,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF. ”
“These high global temperatures, coupled with record global atmospheric water vapor levels in 2024, meant unprecedented heatwaves and heavy rainfall events, causing misery for millions of people,” she said.
The Copernicus report citied human-induced climate change as the primary driver of extreme air and sea surface temperatures in 2024. It said other factors, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, also contributed to the unusual temperatures observed during the year.
Other highlights of Friday’s report:
- A new record high for daily global average temperature was reached on July 22 July 2024, at 17.16°C.
- 2024 was the warmest year for all continental regions, except Antarctica and Australasia, as well as for sizeable parts of the ocean, particularly the North Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.
- Each month from January to June 2024 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year on record. Each month from July to December, except August, was each the second warmest, after 2023, for the time of year. August 2024 was tied with August 2023 as the warmest on record.
- In 2024, the annual average sea surface temperature over the extra-polar ocean reached a record high of 20.87°C, 0.51°C above the 1991–2020 average.
- 2024 saw the end of the El Niño event that started in 2023 and the transition towards more neutral or La Niña conditions.
- Extreme temperatures and high humidity contribute to increased levels of heat stress. Much of the Northern Hemisphere experienced more days than average with at least “strong heat stress” during 2024, and some areas saw more days than average with “extreme heat stress.”
- The atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase and reached record annual levels in 2024, at 422 parts per million and 1897 parts per billion respectively. Carbon dioxide concentrations in 2024 were 2.9 ppm higher than in 2023, whereas methane concentrations were 3 ppb higher.
Read more: How to move into a successful climate-change career