The year 2024 has officially been declared the warmest year globally, with average temperatures surpassing 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. This historic announcement was made by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union’s Earth observation program, on Friday. The declaration comes amid raging wildfires in Los Angeles, California—an escalating disaster exacerbated by climate change.
The unprecedented heat of 2024 was largely driven by the continued burning of fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists stress that global temperatures will not stabilize until humanity achieves net-zero emissions. The urgency to drastically reduce these emissions has never been clearer.
A Record-Breaking Year
The Copernicus report aligns with other global temperature datasets, confirming 2024 as the hottest year since record-keeping began in 1850. Global temperatures were approximately 1.6°C higher than the late 19th-century averages, which represent pre-industrial levels.
On July 22, 2024, the daily global average temperature hit 17.16°C—a new all-time high. According to Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo, “We are now teetering on the edge of surpassing the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Agreement, with the average over the last two years already above this level.”
This extreme warming brought record levels of atmospheric water vapor, fueling devastating heatwaves and heavy rainfall events that have caused widespread suffering.
Understanding the Global Heat
Measuring Earth’s average surface temperature is a complex task. Despite variations in methodology among organizations, all data points to the same conclusion: 2024 was Earth’s hottest year.
Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions were the primary driver, though the El Niño climate phenomenon also contributed, particularly in the year’s first half. El Niño warmed the central and eastern Pacific, increasing global average temperatures by up to 0.2°C.
Has the Paris Agreement Failed?
Exceeding 1.5°C in 2024 might seem like a failure of the Paris Agreement, but this target is measured over longer periods to account for natural climate variability, including phenomena like El Niño and La Niña. Nonetheless, the record-breaking temperatures of 2024 highlight the immense challenge of keeping global warming below 2°C, let alone 1.5°C.
A Call to Action
Climate change has a near-linear relationship with cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. Every tonne of emissions contributes equally to global warming. This means the faster humanity transitions to a decarbonized economy, the sooner warming will halt.
Though 2025 may not be as hot as 2024 due to the waning El Niño, Earth is expected to experience more record-breaking heat in the coming decades. The need for rapid and transformative climate action has never been more pressing. It’s not too late to change the trajectory of Earth’s climate—if we act now.