Rescuers search for survivors following flooding in Libya, September 2023. The year 2023 has seen eight consecutive months monthly records, from June to December, according to data collected by the Copernicus observatory. (File photo)
But this perspective is getting closer: to meet this limit, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions must reach -43% by 2030 compared to 2019, according to climate experts from the IPCC. However, the global decline has not yet started, even if some experts announce that the peak of emissions is imminent.
The current climate is considered to have already warmed stably by around 1.2°C compared to 1850-1900. And at the current rate of emissions, the IPCC predicts that the 1.5°C threshold has a one in two chance of being reached on average by the years 2030-2035.
In 2023, for the first time, every day of the year was at least 1 degree warmer compared to the pre-industrial era. Two days in November even exceeded 2 degrees of warming.
The year, marked by the start of El Niño, a phenomenon synonymous with additional warming which should reach its full extent in 2024, saw eight months in a row of monthly records, from June to December. July 2023 now holds the all-time monthly record, immediately followed by August 2023.
Of the nearly 30,700 days since 1940, the 46 hottest days were measured in 2023, all last summer, in July and August, according to Copernicus data analyzed by AFP. /p>
In Europe, 2023 ranks as the second warmest year, behind 2020.
The world's oceans have also been persistently and unusually overheated, with seasonal records consistently broken since April.
These temperatures, unprecedented for nine months, threaten marine life, increase the intensity of storms and warm the atmosphere. They are particularly scrutinized by climatologists, given the major role of climate regulator played by the oceans, which absorb more than 90% of the excess heat caused by human activity.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">This increase also has the effect of accelerating the melting of the floating ice shelves of Greenland and Antarctica, crucial for retaining fresh water glaciers and prevent massive rise in ocean levels.
Antarctic sea ice has reached record low levels for eight months of the past year.
With the extremes observed in recent months […] we are now far from the climate in which our civilization has been able to develop, warns Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S.
Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116