Climate change record year: Report: Global warming averaged 1.6 degrees in 2024

According to a report, the year 2024 was the first since measurements began that the global average was over 1.5 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial average. This also made it the warmest year ever recorded, as the climate change service of the EU Copernicus program reported in Reading, UK. He had already presented similar preliminary estimates in recent months.

According to the latest data, the year was even 1.6 degrees warmer than the estimated mean temperature from 1850 to 1900. At the same time, each of the last ten years (2015-2024) was among the ten warmest on record.

Report is a “warning signal”

“All internationally compiled global temperature data show that 2024 was the warmest year since records began in 1850,” emphasized Copernicus climate change service director Carlo Buontempo. The huge data set comes from satellites, ships, planes and weather stations around the world.

“This report is a warning signal because we must do everything we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says Niklas Höhne, co-founder of the NewClimate Institute. “We have to do more than we have done before.”

According to Copernicus, the global average temperature in 2024 was 15.10 degrees, 0.12 degrees higher than in 2023, the warmest year on record to date. A new record for the hottest day was set on July 22, 2024 with a global temperature of 17.16 degrees. 2024 was also the warmest year measured in Europe and, according to the German Weather Service, also in Germany.

In the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, it was agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels if possible. But not only was 2024 warmer, but also the two-year average for 2023 and 2024, which was 1.54 degrees, as Copernicus announced. “This does not mean that we have exceeded the limit set in the Paris Agreement.” The agreement refers to temperature deviations that are averaged over a period of at least 20 years.

Already at today’s temperatures there are a number of extreme events

“I think the 1.5 degree target is no longer tenable,” said Andreas Fink from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). According to his knowledge, the technologies for removing CO2 from the atmosphere will not be able to extract the necessary amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere in the next few decades. It is therefore absolutely necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions very quickly. The costs of escalating climate change are significantly higher than moving away from coal, oil and gas.

At 1.5 degrees it is a political goal, from which things happen “that we no longer find acceptable,” said Höhne. 2024 has shown how dangerous the temperature level already is. “There were extreme events all over the world: temperatures over 50 degrees, extreme precipitation that brought as much rain in one day as usual in a year, and huge fires that could not be put out,” emphasized the climate researcher. “As long as we emit greenhouse gases, the temperature will continue to rise and with it the likelihood of these extreme events.”

Not only land areas, but also the oceans were warmer on average than ever since measurements began. This applies to both the temperatures on the surface and to the heat stored down to a depth of 2,000 meters, reports a team led by Lijing Cheng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The warming of the oceans down to depths of 2,000 meters is actually accelerating.

The oceans are very important for the earth’s climate because they absorb around 90 percent of the heat caused by the increase in greenhouse gases. They also influence the weather by releasing heat and moisture into the atmosphere.

According to Copernicus, the temperature records resulted in the highest amount of water vapor ever recorded in the atmosphere. In 2024 it was around five percent above the average from 1991 to 2020. The combination of high sea temperatures and high humidity contributed to severe storms including tropical cyclones.

On the other hand, persistent dry periods in several regions favored forest fires, explains Copernicus and particularly refers to large-scale and long-lasting forest fires in America. Additionally, the area of ​​the Earth affected by at least “severe” heat stress reached a new record on July 10, when around 44 percent of the Earth experienced “severe” to “extreme heat stress.”

There are also positive developments

The Copernicus experts see the main reason for the high temperatures as the high emissions of man-made greenhouse gases. For example, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere reached new record levels in 2024 since measurements began. Another factor for warming was the El Niño climate phenomenon, which peaked in December 2023 and also influenced temperatures in the first half of 2024.

Höhne nevertheless points to positive developments: “We have seen that we can change things,” he said. “Renewable energies, the number of electric cars and heat pumps are developing faster worldwide every year than previously predicted.”

There is still a lot to do for a better world

“Ten years ago we calculated that the earth’s temperature would rise by 3.5 degrees by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times,” said Höhne, referring to the Climate Action Tracker climate project. Thanks to rapid developments in climate protection, it is now 2.7 degrees. If all countries meet their announced climate neutrality goals, it will be 1.9 degrees.

Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to zero globally. “But there is still a lot to do,” said Höhne. But it’s worth it.

US President-elect Donald Trump cannot object to the fact that renewable energies are unbeatably cheap. In Germany, it is important that the parties fight together against the climate crisis, said Höhne. “It is an existential crisis in which the parties must work together without playing off each other.” The heating law is just as necessary as the registration ban for combustion vehicles from 2035.