2024 named hottest year since 175 years ago — Report

A new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), regarded as the world’s most trusted source of climate updates, has confirmed 2024 as the hottest year on record in 175 years, surpassing the previous high set in 2023.

The WMO’s State of the Global Climate report paints a grim picture of escalating climate impacts, warning that the world is approaching dangerous thresholds, yet global leaders continue to show insufficient urgency.

The report stated that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have reached their highest levels in the past 800,000 years, driving temperature increases that experts say are edging dangerously close to the global limits agreed under the Paris Agreement—which the United States exited on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Although scientists noted that surpassing the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark in 2024 does not yet mean this threshold has been permanently breached, the report warns that global warming continues to accelerate. 

According to the WMO, long-term global warming is now estimated between 1.34 and 1.41 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that keeping global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius remains possible, but said, “leaders must step up to make it happen.”

According to CNN, the report attributed the record-breaking heat mainly to rising levels of greenhouse gases, with additional influence from El Niño, a periodic weather phenomenon that brings warmer waters to the eastern Pacific.

Warming oceans, which absorb 90 percent of the Earth’s excess heat, have also broken records for the eighth consecutive year. 

The WMO noted that the rate of ocean warming over the last two decades is more than double what was recorded between 1950 and 2005. This warming has intensified coral bleaching, fuelled stronger storms, and accelerated sea ice loss.

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According to the report, sea levels have also continued their relentless climb, reaching a record high in 2024. The average annual rise has surged from 2.1 millimetres per year between 1993 and 2002, to 4.7 millimetres between 2015 and 2024. The report warned that coastal communities face increasing threats of flooding, erosion and saltwater intrusion.

The loss of glaciers is also accelerating, with the last three years marking the largest recorded three-year decline in glacier mass. “Exceptionally negative” losses were reported in regions including Norway, Sweden, Svalbard and the tropical Andes, the WMO said.

Climate scientists have voiced growing alarm over the worsening trends. Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a professor at the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, said, “We need to stop hitting snooze on our alarm, which is the now regularly occurring record-breaking global temperatures. 

“How much more do we need to scream and shout that climate change is happening, it’s because of us, and without any serious action, it’s only going to get worse? The longer this goes in, the harder it will be to make things better.”

Linden Ashcroft, a climate science lecturer at The University of Melbourne, expressed frustration over the lack of decisive action. 

“Honestly, I’m not quite sure what to do next. Scream these findings from the tops of buildings? Write my comments in capitals? Saying all this while dancing on TikTok?” she said in a written statement. “Unless we see real climate leadership from governments and businesses, I will save this response and send it through again next year.”

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