In its latest report, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has said that the earth experienced its hottest June in history as last month surpassed the previous warmest June, which occurred in 2023.
In the report, the EU’s climate service said that “June 2024 was the 12th consecutive month of record temperatures exceeding the 1.5°C pre-industrial level”, adding that last month also marked the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures.
The C3S said that global temperatures have been consistently surging since June 2023 but last month was 1.50°C above the estimated monthly average for 1850 – 1900, the pre-industrial reference period.
It noted that global temperature for the past 12 months (July 2023 – June 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.76°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.64°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
The report further showed that global sea surface temperatures are also at their highest ever as the average for June 2024 was 20.85°C.
Carlo Buontempo, who is director of C3S said that the warming highlights “a large and continuing shift in our climate”.
“Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm,” he said. “This is inevitable, unless we stop adding greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and the oceans.”
The goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement was for countries to pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”. However, in recent years, world leaders have harped on the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century.
This is because the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.
To limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43 percent by 2030.
Story was adapted from TheCable.
