The last two years have shattered records for global average temperatures, pushing past a critical threshold for the first time in history, according to a report released Friday by Europe’s climate monitoring agency. The findings arrive amid escalating calls from the United Nations for “trail-blazing” climate initiatives to stave off the worst impacts of a warming planet.
In a stark warning, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that global average surface temperatures in 2024 rose 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a figure that exceeds the 1.5-degree target established in the 2015 Paris Agreement. While experts caution that surpassing this limit for a single year does not signify a permanent breach, it underscores the urgency of reversing the trend.
The blazing temperatures demand “trail-blazing” action, said António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in a statement.
“There’s still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act – now,” the statement read.
The extreme heat of 2024 fueled climate disasters across the globe, causing economic damages estimated at over USD 300 billion (EGP 15 trillion). From devastating wildfires in California to deadly floods in Europe and Africa, no region was spared. In Saudi Arabia, 1,300 pilgrims perished in extreme heat, while powerful storms battered Asia and North America, leaving millions displaced.
The United States recorded its hottest year ever, with wildfires ravaging thousands of structures across Los Angeles. President Joe Biden described the fires as “devastating evidence that climate change is real,” reinforcing his administration’s push for climate policy reform.
“The last decade has been an extraordinary streak of record-breaking temperatures,” said the WMO, which aggregated data from six independent global datasets.
“A Stark Warning Sign”
Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, called the breach of the 1.5-degree mark a “stark warning sign.”
“This milestone represents our first real taste of what a 1.5-degree world looks like, bringing unprecedented suffering and staggering economic costs,” he said in a statement.
Scientists have long warned that every fraction of a degree of warming beyond 1.5 degrees carries dire consequences. Rising temperatures are already amplifying the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods, often with cascading effects. In 2024, the world witnessed record-high ocean temperatures, intensifying cyclones and stressing marine ecosystems to a breaking point.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, emphasized that while this year’s breach does not equate to failure under the Paris Agreement, it signals the planet is dangerously close to the edge.
“We are now teetering on the brink of permanently surpassing the 1.5-degree target,” she said.
The emergence of an El Niño weather pattern in 2023 contributed to the soaring temperatures, but its dissipation in early 2024 has left scientists grappling with why global heat levels have remained so elevated. While a potential La Niña event could offer modest cooling later this year, the WMO has cautioned that it would likely be weak and short-lived.
Adding to the alarm, water vapor in the atmosphere, a potent greenhouse gas, reached unprecedented levels in 2024, compounding the effects of rising temperatures and intensifying extreme weather events.
The Path Forward
Global leaders committed to phasing out fossil fuels at a UN summit in 2023, but progress has faltered. A follow-up meeting in November yielded little momentum on deeper emission cuts. With time slipping away, climate scientists stress that immediate, bold measures are essential to steer the planet toward a safer trajectory.
“The future is in our hands,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus. “Swift and decisive action can still change the course of our climate future, but the window for meaningful intervention is narrowing rapidly.”
