What climate records were broken in 2024?
Al JazeeraThis year, 2024, is set to become the hottest on record, surpassing the previous high in 2023, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. The agreement aimed to have countries work towards reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, with a goal of limiting the global average surface temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and striving to keep it well below 2C. Rising temperatures have already triggered extreme weather events across the globe in 2024, including deadly floods in Nigeria and Europe, devastating wildfires in South America, early heatwaves and catastrophic hurricanes in the United States. The average global sea surface temperature reached 21.09C, surpassing the previous record of 20.98C set in August 2023. “What is more surprising is that sea surface temperatures are at record levels in regions far from El Nino’s centre, such as the tropical Atlantic and Indian Ocean,” noted Richard Allan, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, emphasising the profound impact of rising greenhouse gas emissions on global warming.