If 2023 was the hottest on record by a ‘large margin’, with average temperatures approaching 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, brace for the worst as 2024 would be no better. In fact it may be worse with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warning that global temperatures could outstrip last year’s record due to the increasing impact of climate change.
In a report released recently, the UN weather agency has officially confirmed that 2023 is the warmest year on record, by a huge margin as El Niño combined with climate change to fuel heat in the latter half of the said year.
“The shift from cooling La Niña to warming El Niño by the middle of 2023 is clearly reflected in the rise in temperature from last year. Given that El Niño usually has the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks, 2024 could be even hotter,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Celeste Saulo..
Six leading international datasets used for monitoring global temperatures and consolidated by WMO show that the annual average global temperature was 1.45 ± 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) in 2023. Global temperatures in every month between June and December set new monthly records. July and August were the two hottest months on record.
“Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity faces. It is affecting all of us, especially the most vulnerable,” said Saulo. “We cannot afford to wait any longer. We are already taking action but we have to do more and we have to do it quickly. We have to make drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources,” she said.
“While El Niño events are naturally occurring and come and go from one year to the next, longer-term climate change is escalating, and this is unequivocal because of human activities. The climate crisis is worsening the inequality crisis. It affects all aspects of sustainable development and undermines efforts to tackle poverty, hunger, ill-health, displacement, and environmental degradation,” said Prof. Saulo (Argentina), who became WMO Secretary-General early this year.
Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one. The past nine years have been the warmest on record. The years 2016 (strong El Niño) and 2020 were previously classed as the warmest on record, at 1.29 ±0.12°C and 1.27 ±0.12°C above the pre-industrial era.
“Humanity’s actions are scorching the earth. 2023 was a mere preview of the catastrophic future that awaits if we don’t act now.
We must respond to record-breaking temperature rises with path-breaking action,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“We can still avoid the worst of the climate catastrophe. But only if we act now with the ambition required to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius and deliver climate justice,” he said in a statement.