UN scientists shocked by ‘extraordinary' warming

Leading climate scientists said they watched with surprise as extraordinary” global temperatures broke record after record last year.

- REBECCA SPEARE-COLE

The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) confirmed 2024 as the hottest year on record in its flagship State of the Global Climate report released today.

The agency said global average temperatures hit around 1.55C above pre-industrial levels, outstripping even the record heat of 2023. Scientists said this was mainly driven by the ongoing rise in planet-heating emissions but was also coupled with the warming El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific.

Although last year was the first to breach the key 1.5C threshold to which countries have committed to limit dangerous global warming, the WMO said this does not mean the world has failed to meet the goal over the long term.

Instead, it said long-term warming is currently estimated at between 1.34 and 1.41C compared to an 1850-1900 baseline, although the scientists noted the uncertainty ranges in global temperature statistics.

Speaking to reporters, John Kennedy, co-chairman of the WMO climate monitoring team, said he was “surprised” by the extent of record-breaking over the last two years.

“As someone who watches global temperatures come in month after month in great detail, the string of record warm months, the sustained warmth from 2023 until the month just gone, has been really exceptional. We’ve seen either the warmest or second warmest month on record throughout that entire period.”