Amid climate change and rising temperatures around the world, a worrying statistic has emerged – according to the European Union’s climate agency, last month was the hottest June ever recorded on Earth. Not only this, June became the 12th consecutive month that crossed the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold for global warming.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reports that last month was 0.14 degrees warmer than June 2023. Data from the EU climate agency shows that every month of last year has consistently broken records for unprecedented heat, making it the hottest month ever recorded on the planet. Although this is an unusual event, a similar series of monthly global temperature records also occurred in 2015-2016.
The 1.5 degree global warming standard was internationally accepted in the 2015 Paris Agreement, where world leaders from over 200 countries agreed to limit the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels in order to reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.
According to C3S director Carlo Buontempo, the record-breaking temperatures over the past year point to a “major and ongoing change in our climate.” “Even if this typical sequence of extremes ends at some point, we will surely see new records being broken as the climate warms. This is inevitable, unless we stop adding (greenhouse gases) to the atmosphere and oceans,” he said in a statement.
According to a report by news agency Reuters, new worrying data also suggests that 2024 could overtake 2023 as the hottest year ever.
There is about a 95% chance that 2024 will be the hottest year than 2023 since global surface temperature records began in the mid-1800s, according to Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at US nonprofit Berkeley Earth.
Finally, with data from the first six months of the year, I now estimate that there is about a 95% chance that 2024 will surpass 2023 and be the hottest year since global surface temperature records began in the mid-1800s: pic.twitter.com/nWLfRJ7Yd8
— Zeke Hausfather (@hausfath) July 3, 2024
Rising temperatures around the world have brought devastating consequences. Saudi Arabia reported that more than 1,300 people died during this year’s Hajj.
More than 40,000 cases of suspected heat stroke have been reported in India during the ongoing heat wave, and more than 100 people have died due to heat stroke. According to the NGO Centre for Holistic Development, 192 homeless people were reported dead in Delhi during June 11-19.
