Global temperatures in 2024 could outstrip last year’s record, the World Meteorological Organisation has warned.
The UN weather agency said 2023 was the hottest on record by a “large margin”, with average temperatures approaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Analysis by WMO of six international data sets found that the annual average global temperature in 2023 was warmer by 1.45°C, with a variance of plus or minus 0.12°C, than the period before people started burning fossil fuels.
It came days after the release of similar data by the EU's Earth observation programme Copernicus.
It found the global average temperature throughout the year was 14.98°C, overtaking 2016, the previous warmest year, by “a large margin”.
The temperature was 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level, it said.
New temperature records were set every month between June and December, with July and August being the hottest.
“Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity faces. It is affecting all of us, especially the most vulnerable,” said WMO secretary general Prof Celeste Saulo.
“We cannot afford to wait any longer. We are already taking action but we have to do more and we have to do it quickly. We have to make drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources.
“The shift from cooling La Nina to warming El Nino by the middle of 2023 is clearly reflected in the rise in temperature from last year. Given that El Nino usually has the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks, 2024 could be even hotter,” she said.
She said while El Nino events come and go from one year to the next, longer-term climate change is escalating due to human activities.
“The climate crisis is worsening the inequality crisis. It affects all aspects of sustainable development and undermines efforts to tackle poverty, hunger, ill-health, displacement and environmental degradation,” said Prof Saulo, an Argentine who took up the post on January 1.
Since the 1980s, each decade has been hotter than the previous one. And each of the nine past years have been the warmest on record, with 2016, which witnessed a strong El Nino, and 2020 being the hottest.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said humanity’s actions were “scorching the earth”.
“2023 was a mere preview of the catastrophic future that awaits if we don’t act now. We must respond to record-breaking temperature rises with path-breaking action,” he said.
“We can still avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But only if we act now with the ambition required to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5ºC and deliver climate justice.”
2023 confirmed as hottest year on record – in pictures
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Wildfire in Ogan Ilir on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Such fires were commonplace in 2023, which scientists have confirmed as the hottest year on record. All photos: Getty Images -
Dwindling water levels at Woodhead Reservoir in Glossop, England, during the UK's hottest June on record -
A crowded beach in Rio de Janeiro during a record heatwave in Brazil -
A digital thermometer in Madrid -
Burnt-out shops along the coast road in Kiotari, Rhodes, after the Greek island was ravaged by wildfires -
A woman cools herself down with a fan in Beijing -
People brave the high temperatures on Blackpool beach in England -
A man prepares to fight flames as they engulf a hillside in Apollana, Rhodes -
A woman drinks from a public fountain during a sizzling heatwave in Madrid -
A raging wildfire outside in Newcastle, Australia -
People struggle in the baking sun at the Acropolis in Athens
WMO’s provisional State of the Global Climate in 2023 report, published on 30 November, showed records were broken across the board – from atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat and acidification, sea level, sea ice extent and glacier mass balance.
Sea surface temperatures were exceptionally high for months, fuelled by damaging marine heatwaves, while Antarctic sea ice extent was the lowest on record.
The year was marked by extreme heat on land too, resulting in intense rainfall, floods and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones which left a trail of destruction, death and huge economic losses.
WMO will issue its final State of the Global Climate 2023 report in March. This will include details on the socio-economic effects on food security, displacement and health.
The Paris Agreement seeks to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher for global warming of 1.5°C than at present, but lower than at 2°C.
13 of the hottest places on the planet – in pictures
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1. Death Valley National Park, California. Temperatures reached a record high of 56.7ºC in 1913. Getty Images -
2. Kebili, Tunisia, recorded a high of 55ºC in 1931. Alamy -
3. Mitribah, Kuwait, had a verified reading of 54ºC in 2016. AP Photos -
4. Turbat, Pakistan, reached 53.7ºC in 2017. Photo: Wikimedia Commmons -
5. Dallol, Ethiopia, has daily temperatures that regularly hit about 34ºC, thought to be the hottest place on average. Reuters -
6. Aziziyah, Libya, reached 58ºC in 1922. These days, temperatures tend to regularly exceed 48ºC during the summer. Photo: Wikimedia Commons -
7. Wadi Halfa. Sudan's highest temperature yet registered was 53ºC. Alamy -
8. Dasht-e Lut Desert, Iran, reported 70.7ºC in 2005. Getty Images -
9. Assab, Eritrea, has an annual average temperature of 29.8ºC. Photo: Wikimedia Commons -
10. In Khuzestan, Iran, air temperatures are believed to have hit highs of more than 70ºC, factoring in humidity. Photo: WallpaperFlare -
11. Ghadames, Libya, reportedly had an unverified reading of 55ºC. Reuters -
12. Temperatures in Ouargla, Algeria, hit 51.3ºC in 2018. Unsplash -
13. Wadi Dhayqah, Quriyat, Oman. In June 2018, thermometers did not drop below 42.6ºC over a 24-hour period. Photo: Saleh Al-Shaibany -
14. Mexicali, Mexico hit a high of 52ºC in 1995. Photo: Jesus Monroy Lazcano / Unsplash
