Last month marked the hottest June ever recorded, according to the EU's climate change monitoring service, which reported this on Monday. This continues a series of unprecedented high temperatures, with some scientists suggesting that 2024 could surpass all previous records as the warmest year globally. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) noted that each month since June 2023 has been the hottest on record compared to the same months in past years, a streak now at 13 months.
The latest data indicates that 2024 might exceed 2023 as the warmest year on record, driven by both human-induced climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon, which have jointly pushed temperatures to new highs this year. Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, estimates a 95% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year since global temperature records began in the mid-1800s. The altered climate has already led to catastrophic events worldwide in 2024, including over 1,000 heat-related deaths during the Haj pilgrimage and severe heatwaves in New Delhi and Greece.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London's Grantham Institute, believes there is a high likelihood that 2024 will set a new record for the warmest year. She emphasizes that while we cannot prevent natural phenomena like El Nino, we can mitigate climate change by ceasing the use of oil, gas, and coal. The El Nino phenomenon, which raises ocean surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific, has recently shown signs of weakening, with cooler La Nina conditions expected later this year. C3S's data, which dates back to 1940, confirms that last month was the warmest June since the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900.
Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are the primary driver of climate change. Despite commitments to reduce global warming, collective efforts by countries to decrease these emissions have been insufficient, leading to steadily rising temperatures. In the 12 months ending in June, the global average temperature reached a record high of 1.64 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, according to C3S.
