The climate in charts No sign of emissions slowing in bleak year

"The era of global boiling has arrived," is what the UN chief, António Guterres, presciently declared last year.

- Helena Horton, Lucy Swan, Ana Lucia Gonzalez Paz and Harvey Symons

Earth's surface temperature is heating up.

In 2024, he has continued to be proved right; a report by the EU's space programme has found it is "virtually certain" that 2024 will be the hottest year on record.

The scientists found global temperatures for the past 12 months were 1.62C greater than the 1850-1900 average, when humanity started to burn vast volumes of coal, oil and gas.

Many experienced extreme heat.

And for some, it felt even hotter. Southern Europe is facing more and more heat stress days, defined as days that feel hotter than 32C. This data is from a report by Copernicus, which found that large parts of the area had two full months with "strong heat stress," reaching 60 days in total over the season.

The oceans are heating, too.

Last year's marine heatwaves shocked scientists, as waters warmed to previously unthinkable levels. And it appears this was not an anomaly: in the first half of 2024, ocean surface heat levels soared above the heights they reached the previous year.

Warmer oceans lead to more extreme rainfall.