The European climate agency Copernicus confirmed on Friday that the year 2024 will be the hottest year on record. Global average temperatures remain at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels through 2024.
The agency also said the six months from January to June in 2024 were the warmest on record, while the remaining five months from July to December, excluding August, were the second warmest since 2023. According to scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the year 2024 was the hottest year on record since global temperature tracking began in 1850. The average global temperature in 2024 is 15.1°C, 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average and 0.12°C above the previous record-setting year, 2023. The year 2024 was the first year in which the average global temperature throughout the year was 1.5 degrees Celsius above the average between 1850 and 1900.
The world is entering a new climate reality
Harjeet Singh, climate activist and founding director of Sansut Sampada Climate Foundation, said the world is entering a new climate reality, in which extreme heat, devastating floods and severe storms will become more frequent and severe. To prepare for such a future, we urgently need to scale up adaptation efforts at all levels of society and redesign homes, cities and infrastructure, as well as transform the way we manage water, food and energy systems.
