Aerial view of the forest fire in British Columbia, Canada/Reuters
The world experienced the hottest January on record - this is what the European Union's "Copernicus" climate change service said tonight (Thursday).
The trend continues the extraordinary warming due to climate change.
Last January surpassed the previous warmest January, which occurred in 2020, with record temperatures not seen since 1950. The unusual month came after 2023 ranked as Earth's hottest year on global record since 1850, when human-induced climate change And the "El Nino" weather phenomenon, which warms the surface water in the eastern Pacific Ocean, raised the temperatures even more.
Forest fire in France/Reuters
Since last June, every month has been the hottest the world has known, compared to the corresponding month in previous years.
"Not only is this the warmest January on record, but we've just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial reference period," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus.
Burgess explained that the only way to stop the rise in temperatures is a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
US scientists said 2024 has a one-in-three chance of being even hotter than last year, and a 99% chance of ranking among the five hottest years.
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Heat wave in Bangkok, Thailand/Reuters
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In the 2015 Paris Agreement, many countries pledged to prevent global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius, in order to avoid serious and irreversible consequences.
Despite the recent warming, technically the target of the Paris Agreement, which refers to an average global temperature over decades, has not been violated.
Some scientists said the Paris Agreement target could no longer be realistically met, but urged governments to act faster to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, to limit the deviation from the target, and with it the deadly heat, drought and rising seas.
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