On the back of the hottest January on record, global temperatures have exceeded the key 1.5°C rise in the past year for the first time, according to date from the EU’s Climate Change Service.
Scientists have renewed calls for world leaders to do more to cut carbon emissions and slow the process of global warming.
The 1.5°C mark is significant as back in 2015 world leaders committed to try and limit the long-term temperature rise of the Earth to 1.5°C – a temperature seen as important to avoid the most damaging aspects of global warming. That commitment, made at COP21 – known as the Paris Agreement – is a legally binding treaty.
While exceeding the 1.5°C mark for a year doesn’t break the terms of the Paris Agreement, it is nonetheless seen as a sign that the world is getting closer to breaking it in the long-term.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that January 2024 was the warmest January on record globally with an average surface air temperature of 13.14°C, 0.12°C warmer than the previous record set in 2020 and 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average.
January was also 1.66°C warmer than an estimate of the January average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period.
In addition, this was the eighth month in a row that was the warmest on record for the respective month of the year.
The global mean temperature for the past 12 months (February 2023 to January 2024) was the highest on record, at 0.64°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.52°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
Copernicus reported that European temperatures varied in January 2024 from much below the 1991-2020 average over the Nordic countries to much above average over the south of the continent. Outside of Europe, temperatures were well above average over eastern Canada, north-western Africa, the Middle East and central Asia, and below average over western Canada, the central USA and most of eastern Siberia.
“2024 starts with another record-breaking month – not only is it the warmest January on record but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial reference period,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing.”
