23 06 2024 at 08:35
A year in which each month has been the hottest on record
This article comes 3 months after my previous article on the Climate Crisis.
There have been many climate-related events in the last 3 months, and some great progress towards tacking the Climate Crisis. However, the current overall trend is one of continuing record-breaking global temperatures.
12 months of temperature records
The latest EU "Copernicus" Climate Change Service (C3S) report tells us that May 2024 marks 12 months of record-breaking global temperatures. Last month was 1.52°C above the estimated May average for the 1850-1900 pre-industrial reference period.
The C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess warns:
“The climate continues to alarm us - the last 12 months have broken records like never before - caused primarily by our greenhouse gas emissions and an added boost from the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific. Until we reach net-zero global emissions the climate will continue to warm, will continue to break records, and will continue to produce more ever more extreme weather events."
Global CO2 concentration continues to rise
Despite efforts so far to reduce emissions, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report that CO2 levels are rising with one of the largest annual increases on record.
Whilst Climate Science is generally quite complicated, the relationship between CO2 concentration and global average temperature is quite simple. If CO2 levels continue to rise, so will the global average temperature.
The good news is that the opposite is also true, if we can reduce CO2 emissions, and bring global CO2 concentration under control, then we can limit the extent of Climate Change.
The Paris Agreement tells us that to limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030.
Recent climate impact in Europe
We have recently seen extreme weather events in Europe that are a consequence of the changing Climate.
Early June brought severe / extreme flooding to parts of Germany with the sad loss of life and raises the question of whether such events are the new norm for Germany?
Greece has faced June temperatures exceeding 43°C - never has such a heatwave been observed so early in the summer. This has also sadly led to the loss of life and there will be more in 2024.