European Climate Agency Declares January 2024 As Warmest Month Ever Recorded

The warmest January on record was experienced by the world last month, with the global mean temperature for the past 12 months exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold, according to the European climate agency.

However, this does not imply a permanent breach of the 1.5-degree Celsius limit specified in the Paris agreement, as it refers to long-term warming over many years.

January 2024 as Warmest Month Ever Recorded: Climate Agency

Since June last year, every month has been recorded as the warmest such month on record. The exceptional warming is attributed by scientists to the combined effects of El Niño-a period of abnormal warming of surface waters in the central Pacific Ocean-and human-caused climate change.

In January, the global average temperature was recorded as 1.66 degrees Celsius above the January average for the reference period of 1850-1900, designated as the pre-industrial era.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), January 2024 saw an average temperature of 13.14 degrees Celsius, which was 0.12 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous warmest January in 2020. The global mean temperature for the past 12 months (February 2023-January 2024) was reported by scientists at C3S as the highest on record, exceeding the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average by 1.52 degrees Celsius.

In 2015, countries agreed in Paris to limit the average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels (1850-1900), to avoid worsening climate impacts. It is widely reported that the world is significantly off track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Achieving this goal requires countries to collectively reduce the emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane by 43 per cent by 2030. Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S, remarked that "2024 starts with another record-breaking month- not only is it the warmest January on record but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial reference period".

She emphasized that "Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures from increasing." The year 2023 was noted as the warmest on record, with the average global temperature rise compared to pre-industrial levels nearing the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold.

The World Meteorological Organisation in December said 2024 could be worse as "El Nino typically has the greatest impact on global temperature after it peaks.

(With PTI Inputs)