According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the world experienced its hottest January on record, surpassing the previous warmest January in 2020. This comes after 2023 was ranked as the hottest year on the planet in global records dating back to 1850. Human-caused climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon contributed to these rising temperatures.
Since June, every month has been the world’s hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years. C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess emphasized that rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are necessary to prevent further increases in global temperatures. The United States scientists have also reported a one-in-three chance of 2024 being hotter than 2023.
While the El Nino phenomenon weakened last month, scientists predict that it could shift to the cooler La Nina counterpart later this year. Nevertheless, average global sea surface temperatures last month were the highest for any January on record.
It was agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement that countries would aim to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, the world has not yet breached this target, despite exceeding it in a 12-month period. Some scientists believe that realistically, the goal of the Paris Agreement may not be met, but they have urged governments to take faster action to cut CO2 emissions and limit the severe consequences of overshooting the target such as deadly heat, drought, and rising seas on people and ecosystems.
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