The World is Burning!
The world has exceeded 1.5C warming limit over 12-month period for the first time.
As human-induced climate change continues to disrupt weather patterns, with temperatures soaring. Matt Patterson an atmospheric physicist at the University of Oxford has stated that “It is a significant milestone to see the global mean temperature for a 12-month period exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures for the first time.”
In Paris, countries united to set the goal of keeping global warming temperatures below 2C and limiting it to 1.5C to avoid future catastrophic consequences.
This does not necessarily mean that the Paris Agreement goals have been missed as the Agreement refers to an average global temperature over several decades. However, scientists argue that the aim of keeping temperatures below 1.5C no longer appears to be a realistic aspiration, and are insisting that Governments cut their carbon emissions as quickly as possible.
Samantha Burgess from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has highlighted that "Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing.”
What do we know so far?
The C3S has highlighted that temperatures between February 2023 to January 2024, indicate that this is the highest 12-month temperature average on record.
2023 was the Earth’s hottest year.
Scientists believe that the Earth is yet to breach the 1.5C warming threshold mentioned in the Paris Agreement (which includes the phasing out of fossil fuels)
The United Nations has stated that if the World continues as is, it will not meet the goal of the Paris Agreement, and Scientists agree that such goals are becoming more unrealistic
C3S has stated that the Earth has had the hottest January on record in 2024, continuing heat waves which are being affected by climate change
Denmark's Global Climate Policy Minister Dan Jorgensen has voiced concerns stating that: "We are heading towards a catastrophe if we don't fundamentally change the way we produce and consume energy within a few years. We don't have long.”
✅We will continue to follow the changes that occur.
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