According to the UN, 2024 could even be hotter than the record year 2023

2023 was the hottest year on record, but this year could be even hotter. Last year, new temperature records were set every month between June and December and this pattern is expected to continue.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned about this on Friday in its report on temperatures in 2023.

The WMO confirmed information from the EU climate change agency Copernicus, according to which 2023 would be the warmest year since weather records began in 1850. El Niño, which occurred in mid-2023, was partly responsible for this. The weather phenomenon is also likely to keep thermometers rising in 2024, new WMO head Celeste Saulo warned: “As El Niño typically has the greatest impact on global temperatures after it has peaked, it could still occur in 2024 can get hotter. .»

Last year, the average global temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900), according to the WMO report, which is based on data from several recognized institutions. That is slightly less than the 1.48 degrees that Copernicus calculated in the annual balance sheet published on Tuesday.

To avert the catastrophic consequences of climate change, the international community agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 to limit global warming to well below two degrees, but if possible to 1.5 degrees compared to pre -industrial era.

According to calculations by the United States Meteorological and Oceanographic Administration (NOAA), the global surface temperature in 2023 was 1.18 degrees above the 20th century average. It was also a record 0.13 degrees higher than 2016, the hottest year yet. The Arctic, northern North America, Central Asia, the North Atlantic and the eastern tropical Pacific were particularly affected.

Climate change is “the greatest challenge facing humanity,” Saulo said. “It’s escalating – and this is clearly due to human activity,” Saulo said. “We cannot afford to wait any longer,” she warned. Although measures have already been taken, “we need to do more, and quickly.”

She echoed calls from climate experts for a “drastic” reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an accelerated transition to renewable energy.

The WMO highlighted that every decade since the 1980s has been warmer than the previous one, and that the nine warmest years on record were all between 2015 and 2023. Accordingly, the average temperature in the ten years from 2014 to 2023 was 1.20 degrees above the pre-industrial average. (sda/afp)