Global warming exceeds 1.5°C threshold in 2024, marking the hottest year on record
The global temperature reached 15.10°C in 2024, surpassing the 1.5°C global warming limit set by countries, according to a report from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). This makes 2024 the hottest year ever recorded, being 0.72°C above the 1991–2020 average and 1.60°C warmer than pre-industrial levels.
The previous record was set in 2023 with a global average temperature of 14.98°C. This milestone is significant, as the Paris Agreement signed in 2015 aimed to prevent temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The C3S report, however, clarifies that one or two years of temperatures above the 1.5°C threshold does not breach the Paris Agreement, though the current rate of warming suggests that the 1.5°C target could be surpassed in the 2030s.
The report notes that in 2024, the tropics and northern mid-latitudes contributed significantly to the global temperature anomalies, and Europe experienced its warmest year on record with an average temperature of 10.69°C, exceeding the 1991–2020 average by 1.47°C and the pre-industrial level by 2.92°C. All four seasons in Europe were warmer than average, with the continent facing increasingly drier winters and hotter summers.
