Climate change is accelerating at its fastest pace since records began, dozens of scientists warned in a report published on Wednesday. For the past year in particular, the planet has never been so hot.
Published in the journal Earth System Science Data, the study found that global warming had increased by 0.26C between 2014 and 2023.
In that same period, average global surface temperatures reached 1.19C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial benchmark.
The year 2023 saw an increase of 1.43C, fuelled by the naturally occurring El Nino weather pattern.
The “unprecedented” pace of human-induced warming comes as the window to limit rising temperatures within internationally set targets closes.
Closing in on 1.5C
By the end of 2023, human activity had pushed temperatures 1.31C.
With the month of May likely to be the 12th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures, the report said the target threshold of 1.5C was dangerously close.
“The remaining carbon budget (the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted before hitting 1.5°C warming) is now only about 200 gigatonnes, or about five years of current emissions,” the report said.
One factor contributing to the heat is the decline in certain polluting particles in the atmosphere that reflect some of the Sun's energy back into space.
But by far the primary driver of global warming was "greenhouse gas emissions being at an all-time high".
The report is part of a series of periodic climate assessments designed to fill the gap between UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that have been released on average every six years since 1988.
The report’s release comes as diplomats from around the world meet in Germany for midyear climate talks ahead of the UN’s Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan in November.
(with AFP)
