The World Meteorological Organization reported that in addition to 2024 setting a new heat record for hottest year, the past decade from 2015 to 2024 marked the warmest period on record.
In its latest report, the organization highlighted that the effects of climate change have rapidly intensified over the past decade, with 2024 seeing global temperatures increase by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era from 1850-1900.
“The annually averaged global mean near-surface temperature in 2024 was 1.55 °C ± 0.13 °C above the 1850-1900 average. This is the warmest year in the 175-year observational record, beating the previous record set only the year before. While a single year above 1.5 °C of warming does not indicate that the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement are out of reach, it is a wake-up call that we are increasing the risks to our lives, economies and the planet,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.
“Over the course of 2024, our oceans continued to warm, sea levels continued to rise, and acidification increased. The frozen parts of Earth’s surface, known as the cryosphere, are melting at an alarming rate: glaciers continue to retreat, and Antarctic Sea ice reached the second-lowest extent ever recorded. Meanwhile, extreme weather continues to have devastating consequences around the world,” Saulo added.
The report attributed the record-high temperatures to rising greenhouse gas emissions, along with a transition from a cooling La Nina to a warming El Nino event.
Other contributing factors include changes in the solar cycle, a massive volcanic eruption, and a decrease in cooling aerosols.
2024: HOTTEST OCEAN YEAR IN 65 YEARS
The report also noted that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide reached their highest levels in the last 800,000 years. Additionally, 2024 was recorded as the “hottest ocean year” in the past 65 years.
Ocean warming has led to the degradation of marine ecosystems and biodiversity loss, a reduction in the ocean carbon sink, and has contributed to more intense tropical storms and rising sea levels. The report warned that ocean warming will continue for the rest of the 21st century.
The report also forecast that ocean warming will continue to increase for at least the rest of the 21st century.
In 2024, global sea levels reached their highest point since the start of satellite records in 1993. The rate of sea level rise from 2015 to 2024 was twice as fast as from 1993 to 2002, according to the report.
The report highlighted that the number of new displacements caused by climate-induced natural disasters, such as floods and droughts, in 2024 was the highest recorded in the past 16 years.