Climate change puts world on track to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius in 12 months

2023 was already the planet's hottest year on record since 1850, as human-caused climate change and El Nino - a weather pattern that warms surface waters in the eastern Pacific - pushed temperatures higher.

Heatwaves sparked massive wildfires in Chile earlier this month. Photo: Reuters

“This is a significant milestone, as for the first time we have seen the global average temperature over a 12-month period exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures,” said Matt Patterson, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Oxford.

The previous warmest January was in 2020, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) records dating back to 1950.

Countries agreed at UN climate talks in Paris in 2015 to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and to aim more ideally below 1.5 degrees Celsius, a level seen as crucial to preventing the most severe consequences.

The first 12 months of exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius does not mean the Paris target has been missed, as the UN agreement covers average global temperatures over decades.

However, some scientists say the 1.5C target is no longer realistically achievable and have called on countries to act faster to cut CO2 emissions to limit overshooting.

“Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures from rising,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.

“We are heading towards a catastrophe if we don’t fundamentally change the way we produce and consume energy within a few years,” said Denmark’s Minister for Global Climate Policy Dan Jorgensen. “We don’t have much time.”

Every month since June 2023 has been the world's hottest on record. US scientists say 2024 has a one-third chance of being even hotter than last year and a 99% chance of ranking among the five warmest years.

A heat wave is hitting several countries in South America, a region that is experiencing summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Argentina endured a heat wave from January 21 to 31. Meanwhile, heat waves sparked wildfires that killed at least 131 people earlier this month in Chile.

Huy Hoang (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bien-doi-khi-hau-khien-the-gioi-dat-muc-tang-15-do-c-lan-dau-tien-trong-12-thang-post284092.html