The Global Climate Highlights 2024 report, released by Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service, is now available online. The year 2024 has officially become the warmest on record globally, with the average global temperature standing at 1.6ºC above the pre-industrial average. This marks the first calendar year to exceed the 1.5ºC threshold agreed upon by countries in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to mitigate the risks and impacts of climate change.

If the 30-year warming trend observed up to October 2024 continues, global temperatures are projected to surpass 1.5ºC by June 2030.

2024: A Second Year of Record-Breaking Temperatures

Building on the exceptional warmth of 2023, 2024 saw unprecedented global temperatures, making it the first year with an average temperature that clearly exceeded 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels. This breach of the Paris Agreement's critical threshold emphasizes the urgency of addressing climate change.

Multiple global records were broken in 2024, including levels of greenhouse gases, air temperatures, and sea surface temperatures. These contributed to a series of extreme events such as devastating floods, heatwaves, and wildfires. The data highlight the intensifying impacts of human-induced climate change.

The extreme weather events of 2024 underscore the perilous reality of living in a warmer world. Ultra-warm ocean temperatures fueled consecutive hurricanes in the United States, claiming hundreds of lives. In Spain, catastrophic floods resulted in over 200 fatalities. The Amazon region experienced its worst drought on record, causing rivers to fall to unprecedented lows, while the Philippines endured an extraordinary typhoon season, with six typhoons striking in just 30 days.

Scientific analyses confirm that the climate crisis played a significant role in these extreme events.

For more information, visit the full report online