2024 Declared Warmest Year on Record, Surpassing Climate Thresholds

The World Meteorological Organization and other leading climate institutions have confirmed that 2024 was the warmest year on record, with global average temperatures surpassing the critical 1.5-degree Celsius threshold above pre-industrial levels for the first time. The average temperature reached 15.10°C, which is 0.12 degrees higher than the previous record set in 2023.

Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, emphasized the urgency for immediate action to alter future climate trajectories. He noted that the increasing global temperatures have caused more frequent and intense weather events, including heatwaves and heavy rainfall. Every year from 2015 to 2024 ranks among the ten warmest on record, reflecting an alarming trend of ongoing climate change.

Data revealed that the warmest single day in history occurred on July 22, 2024, when temperatures peaked at 17.16°C. Additionally, the atmospheric water vapor levels reached a new high, with a recorded increase of about 5% above the 1991-2020 average, contributing to significant thermal stress across the Northern Hemisphere.

While that 1.5-degree limit is a safety margin outlined in the Paris Agreement intended to mitigate climate risks, climatologists maintain that the exceeding of this threshold for a single year does not signify a permanent breach of the agreement. However, they warn that without aggressive emission reductions, the second threshold of 2°C may also be surpassed by the end of the century.

Climate experts pointed to the El Niño phenomenon, which ended in 2024, as a factor in the extreme temperatures but cautioned that longer-term trends require immediate interventions. Greenhouse gas concentrations reached record levels last year, highlighting the urgent need for effective climate policy changes.