Scientists , yesterday, said 2023 would go down in history as the hottest year by a huge margin, providing ‘dramatic testimony’ of how much warmer and more dangerous today’s climate is from the cooler one in which human civilisation had developed.
They noted that every day in 2023 was at least 1C above pre-industrial temperatures, adding that the planet was 1.48C hotter in 2023 compared with the period before the mass burning of fossil fuels ignited the climate crisis. The figure is close to the 1.5C temperature target set by countries in Paris in 2015, while the global temperature would need to be consistently above 1.5C for the target to be considered broken.
The scientists at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) revealed this in a report. According to them, it was likely the 1.5C mark would be passed for the first time in the next 12 months.
It was established that average temperature in 2023 was 0.17C higher than in 2016, the previous record year, marking a very large increase in climate terms.
The study highlighted that the cause of this increased global heating was continued record emissions of carbon dioxide and the return of the natural climate phenomenon El Nino. Unprecedented temperatures triggered heatwaves, floods and wildfires, damaging lives and livelihoods across the world with billions of dollars worth of investments lost to climate disaster. There were records of extreme weather, such as heat waves in Europe, flooding in Africa/Europe and the United States.
Data also showed that 2023 was the first year on record when every day was at least 1C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial record. Additionally, almost half the days were 1.5C hotter and, for the first time, two days were more than 2C hotter. The higher temperatures increased from June, with September’s heat so far above previous averages.
The CCCS Director, Carlo Buontempo, said: “The extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we are now from the climate in which our civilisation developed. This has profound consequences for the Paris agreement and all human endeavours. If we want to successfully manage our climate risk, we need to urgently de-carbonise our economy whilst using climate data and knowledge to prepare for the future.”
Also, the CCCS Deputy Director, Samantha Burgess, said: “The year 2023 was an exceptional year, with climate records tumbling like dominoes. Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years.”
