The world has now marked a whole year of consecutive monthly payments heat records, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Wednesday. He said last month was the hottest May on record — the 12th consecutive month in which the monthly high temperature record was broken.
It was also the 11th consecutive month where the average global temperature it was at least 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. If this trend continues, it would mean that the world is passing an important milestone due to climate change.
The average temperature in May was 1.52 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, Copernicus reported, while the global average temperature from June 2023 to May 2024 was 1.63 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average .
The pre-industrial average refers to the period before a sharp increase greenhouse gas emissions, which trap the sun's heat within the Earth's atmosphere and warm the planet. Experts have long warned that keeping average global temperatures no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above that mark is critical to reducing the risk of runaway damage from rising global temperatures. As the planet warms, the heat causes more precipitation and melting sea ice, feeding extreme weather conditions that can lead to changing coastlines, agricultural problems, mass and harmful migrations health consequences.
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said the 12-month streak “is shocking but not surprising” and that while a break will probably be seen at some point, “the overall signature of climate change is maintains”.
“There is no sign in sight of a change in this trend,” he said. “We are living in unprecedented weather… This series of warmer months will be remembered as relatively cold.”
C3S/ECMWF
While exceeding 1.5 degrees of warming every month for nearly a year indicates a worrying trend, scientists say, it will take several years of continued high temperatures for the world to officially surpass that benchmark. Despite this, deadly heat wavesfloods, hurricanes and other conditions have already worsened as the climate changes.
“Millions of people around the world are already experiencing the impacts of climate change,” says NOAA's climate.gov. “…The climate threshold of 1.5°C is not a light switch that turns on all kinds of climate calamities. For every small additional warming, the risk of negative impacts worsens.”
The main way to reduce the increase in global temperature is to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Doing so requires reducing the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, as they release most of these gases. United Nations climate experts explain that carbon dioxide is the most abundant of these gases, while methane it is the most powerful, accounting for more than a quarter of all global warming.
Buontempo said that if the world acts quickly to reduce concentrations of these gases, “we could return to these 'cold' temperatures by the end of the century.”
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For now, the heat is just expected to continue. In the US, officials are predicting another summer of dangerously high temperatures in most of the country. California is already dealing with wildfires and the Southeast is bracing for one intense hurricane season. Last week, dozens of people have died in India due to scorching heat, while deadly floods occurred last month Afghanistan i brazil.
“It is a time of climate crisis,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “…Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don't seem to be listening. We're breaking global temperature records and reaping the benefits.”
