2024 'Virtually Certain' To Be Hottest Year, Pass 1.5 Degree Threshold
20232024 Shatters'Virtually GlobalCertain' TemperatureTo RecordsBe Hottest Year, ScientistsPass Warn1.5 Degree Threshold
The Facts
On Thursday, scientists with the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service state that 2024 is "virtually certain" to be the Earth's hottest year in recorded history, based on the temeprature averages from Janurary to October.
This year will also be the first year that the Earth will see more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in warming, which countries agreed to keep temperature rises under as per the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
The Spin
The climate crisis continues unabated as the Earth continues to pass thresholds that will lead to irreversible damage and threaten the future existence of life on Earth. In spite of the dire need for real global cooperation, anti-science populists have actively denied climate change, with US president-elect Donald Trump threatening to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. We can no longer elect right-wing anti-climate zealots.
The climate lobby is using climate change for political ends by fear-mongering and misleading the public. In fact, evidence has shown that if the world dropped everything to meet the 1.5C goal, the costs would be greater than letting it come to pass and mitigating it. The climate scientists need to focus on real, pragmatic solutions instead of using climate policy as a Trojan horse for societal and economic change.