C3S analysis found that global temperatures for the past 12 months were 1.62°C greater than the 1850-1900 average and that 2024 would likely be the first year more than 1.55°C above that average.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the C3S, said: “This marks a new milestone in global temperature records and should serve as a catalyst to raise ambition for the upcoming climate change conference COP29.”
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, said: “Our civilisation has never had to cope with a climate as warm as the current one. This inevitably pushes our ability to respond to extreme events – and adapt to a warmer world – to the absolute limit.”
C3S scientists also found that Arctic sea ice had reached its fourth-lowest monthly level for October 2024, at 19% below average, while Antarctic sea ice extent hit its second-lowest for October, at 8% below average.
The C3S aims to provide information about temperature rises to support climate change policies. However, with Donald Trump’s victory in the US election and his belief that climate change is a “hoax”, he will no doubt bring an end to other climate initiatives. He has already said he will again pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, a framework for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile, in the UK climate experts warned last week that the government needs to cut the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 81% by 2035 if net zero commitments are going to be met.
