2024 confirmed the hottest year on record on Earth, with an alarming temperature rise of 1.6°C: Report | Mint

The year 2024 is confirmed as the warmest year on record with a global average temperature of 15.10°C, overtaking 2023, the previous warmest year, by 0.12°C, according to the latest Copernicus Climate Change report Services (C3S).

2024 is also the first calendar year in which the average global temperature is more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the report said.

According to the report, the global average temperature of 15.10°C was 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average, and 0.12°C above 2023. This corresponds to 1.60 degrees Celsius above an estimate from the temperature from 1850-1900 which was considered pre-industrial levels, the report said.

“All internationally produced global temperature datasets show that 2024 was the warmest year since records began in 1850. Humanity is in charge of its own destiny, but how we respond to the climate challenge must be based on evidence. The future is in our hands “Fast and decisive action can still change the trajectory of our future climate,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), in the report.

Copernicus programme

C3S is one of six thematic services offered by the European Union's Copernicus programme, managed by the European Commission. The C3S is implemented by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

The C3S report comes a day after firefighters battled to control a series of major fires in the Los Angeles area of ​​the United States, killing five people, destroying communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and killing thousands people have frantically fled their homes. Thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the hilly coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, making this the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2024 would be the hottest year on record, culminating in a decade of unprecedented heat fueled by human activities.

“Today I can officially report that we have just endured a decade of deadly heat. The top ten warmest years on record have occurred in the last decade, including 2024,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said in his message for the New Year, 2025.

Some highlights from the report include:

-2024 is confirmed as the warmest year on record, with a global average temperature of 15.10°C, overtaking 2023, the previous warmest year, by 0.12°C.

-2024 is 1.60°C above an estimate of pre-industrial levels, making this the first calendar year to exceed the 1.5°C limit.

-The past ten years (2015-2024) were the ten warmest on record.

-Since July 2023, except July 2024, every month has exceeded the 1.5°C threshold. The average for 2023-2024 is 1.54°C.

-2024 was the warmest year for all continents except Antarctica and Australasia.

-According to ERA5, a new record for daily global average temperature was reached on July 22, 2024, at 17.16°C.

-Antarctic sea ice extent reached record or near-record levels for the second year in a row. From June to October, the monthly magnitude was second only to 2023 and lowest in November.

-In 2024, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached their highest annual levels ever. Column average carbon dioxide concentrations reached 422 ppm, 2.9 ppm higher than 2023, and methane reached 1897 ppb, 4 ppb higher than 2023.

-2024 was the year with the highest water vapor content ever measured. As atmospheric water vapor levels increase, heavy rainfall will become more intense.