The world could experience an average of 41 more days of extreme heat in 2024 due to climate change, a new report said Friday. According to the European climate agency Copernicus, 2024 is set to finish as the hottest year on record and the first year when global average temperatures will be 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The annual review report by two groups of climate scientists – World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central – said the world could see an average of 41 more days of dangerous heat in 2024.
Small island developing states were hardest hit, with people experiencing more than 130 additional hot days.
Scientists identified 219 extreme weather events in 2024 and studied 29 of them. They found that climate change contributed to at least 3,700 deaths and displaced millions of people in 26 extreme weather events.
“It is likely that the total number of deaths this year from increased extreme weather events due to climate change will be in the tens or hundreds of thousands,” the report said.
Flooding in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad was the deadliest event studied by the group, killing at least 2,000 people.
The study found that if global warming reaches two degrees Celsius, which could happen as early as the 2040s or 2050s, these regions could face similar heavy rainfall events every year.
Friederike Otto, head of WWA and senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London, said: “The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more devastating than by 2024. We are living in a dangerous new era. Are.” He said, “We know what we need to do to stop things getting worse – stop burning fossil fuels. The top resolution for 2025 will be to move away from fossil fuels, which will make the world a safer and more stable place. Will make.” ,
According to Copernicus, the year 2024 is expected to end with the global average temperature being at least 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
However, permanent breach of the 1.5-degree Celsius limit specified in the Paris Agreement refers to long-term warming over a 20- or 30-year period.
Experts believe the world is now entering a phase where temperatures will consistently remain above this limit, he said.
The average global temperature has already increased by 1.3 degrees Celsius compared to the 1850–1900 average due to the rapid build-up of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body that assesses the science related to climate change, says that to limit global warming to 1.5%, global emissions must peak by 2025 and fall 43 percent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. And should be reduced by 57 percent by 2035. degrees Celsius.
However, according to the latest UN data, current policies will lead to global warming of about 3 degrees Celsius by 2100.
According to the synthesis report of countries’ NDCs, even full implementation of all Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) or national climate plans would reduce emissions by only 5.9 per cent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are the largest contributors to climate change, accounting for more than 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.
However, the world is struggling to rapidly move away from fossil fuels to prevent breaching the 1.5°C target due to a combination of political, economic, technological and social challenges.
The transition to clean energy sources is particularly difficult for poor countries in the global South due to dependence on fossil fuels for jobs and affordable energy, lack of money and technology, weak electricity grids, and limited expertise.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
