The planet is likely to breach the Paris Agreement target of containing the rise in global temperatures to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels over the next 12 months
In 2023, the Earth broke its previous record for the hottest year. The global average temperature has increased by 0.60°C above the level of 1991–2020, reaching 14.98°C. The previous record was set in 2016. The Copernicus Climate Change Service has confirmed that the 1.5°C limit established during the 2015 Paris Climate Accord will likely be breached in the next 12 months, ending in January or February 2024.
The Paris Agreement, agreed upon by 196 countries in 2015, targets limiting the average increase in temperatures globally to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The member countries are also working to restrict the spike in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Unfortunately, the new year seems to have started troublingly, as January temperatures have indicated a spike beyond the 1.5-degree threshold for the first time.
According to data from EU climate monitors, 2023 was 1.48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, just below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set in the Paris climate accord. The record heat made life miserable and sometimes deadly in Europe, North America, China, and many other places last year.
Scientists say that a warming climate is also to blame for more extreme weather events, such as the lengthy drought that devastated the Horn of Africa, the torrential downpours that wiped out dams and killed thousands in Libya, and the Canadian wildfires that fouled the air from North America to Europe.