The average temperature of the earth climbed more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024. The climate scientists announced this breach while implying the failure of the world in containing the temperature rise. As of now, it is merely one metric and one year, but researchers say that this serves as a reminder that the world is moving into dangerous territory.
In addition to the rise in air temperatures, the world’s sear surface also reached a new daily high in 2024. This further exacerbated the total amount of moisture in the atmosphere, which reached record levels.
The Breach
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that the global average temperature in 2024 reached 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels. This finding was also confirmed by other major climate science agencies, including the World Meteorological Organization, which concluded that 2024 was 1.55°C warmer than pre-industrial levels.
“Climate history is playing out before our eyes. We’ve had not just one or two record-breaking years, but a full ten-year series. This has been accompanied by devastating and extreme weather, rising sea levels and melting ice, all powered by record-breaking greenhouse gas levels due to human activities,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
“It is important to emphasize that a single year of more than 1.5°C for a year does NOT mean that we have failed to meet Paris Agreement long-term temperature goals, which are measured over decades rather than an individual year. However, it is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. Whether it is at a level below or above 1.5°C of warming, every additional increment of global warming increases the impacts on our lives, economies and our planet,” said Celeste Saulo.
Scientists have warned that at the current rate of warming, exceeding 0.2°C per decade, we are likely to breach the 1.5°C target within the 2030s.
The primary cause of the global warming at this accelerated rate is the continued emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, from human activities. Global emissions hit an all-time high in 2024. While natural phenomena like El Niño contributed to the temperature spike, their impact was secondary to human-induced climate change.
India Achieves 7.93% Drop in GHG Emissions
Amid the announcements of insufficient efforts by the world to combat global warming in the last year, India submitted its 4th Biennial Update Report (BUR-4) to the UNFCCC on 30th December 2024. The report shows a 7.93% reduction in total GHG emissions in 2020 with respect to 2019.
Excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), India’s emissions were 2,959 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent, way to measure the impact of GHG). Including LULUCF, net emissions were 2,437 million tonnes of CO2e.
The energy sector was the largest contributor accounting for 75.66% of emissions, along with other land use, sequestered approximately 522 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to reducing 22% of the country’s total emissions.
