Devendra Kumar
The European Union’s climate change service, Copernicus, reported a significant increase in global average temperature last week. According to the service, the temperature rose more than 2C above the pre-industrial norm for this time of year, a figure that was never seen before in recorded history. On Friday, the temperature reached 2.07C above the average temperature for 1850-1900, while provisional figures showed the following day to have reached 2.06C.
This rise in temperature is attributed to a sudden and steep increase in warmth over the land areas of the northern hemisphere, on top of the long-term trend of global warming caused by greenhouse gases and the naturally occurring effect of El Niño in the tropical eastern Pacific. Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, emphasized the significance of this event, stating that “global temperature records are being broken with alarming regularity.”
The increase in temperature is not the highest absolute recording, which was set in July and is considered likely to be the hottest month in the last 120,000 years. However, this reading is the furthest departure from the average temperature for the time of year compared with pre-industrial times. The breach of the 1.5C and 2C thresholds is significant, as it highlights the urgent need for action to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Countries are aiming to keep the average global temperature within 2C and ideally 1.5C, as part of the Paris Agreement. However, this goal is taken over a period of around 20 years, and a daily breach does not necessarily mean the goal has failed. Scientists have cautioned that the daily averages will vary, but these temperature boundaries will be met more frequently on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis as long as global emissions continue to rise.
The Copernicus readings come as the UN warned that current emissions reduction policies have the Earth on track to warm by an average of almost 3C by the end of the century. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described humanity as “addicted” to fossil fuels, which he termed the “poisoned root” of the climate crisis. The UN emphasized that if the world is to keep within the 1.5C boundary, a 42% reduction in emissions by 2030 is necessary, with the window of opportunity rapidly closing.