The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has reported that the world witnessed its hottest January on record, continuing a trend of exceptional heat caused by climate change. The previous warmest January was in 2020, but last month surpassed that record. This exceptional month comes after 2023 was ranked as the hottest year in global records since 1850, which was due to human-caused climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon that warms the eastern Pacific Ocean’s surface waters.
Since June, every month has been the world’s hottest on record compared to the corresponding month in previous years. C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess stated that “Not only is it the warmest January on record, but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5°C (1.7°F) above the pre-industrial reference period.” She added that “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures from increasing.”
US scientists have predicted that 2024 has a one-in-three chance of being even hotter than last year, with a 99% chance of ranking in the top five warmest years. Although the El Nino phenomenon began to weaken last month and may shift to the cooler La Nina counterpart later this year, the average global sea surface temperatures last month were the highest for any January on record.
In 2015, countries agreed to try to prevent global warming from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid unleashing more severe and irreversible consequences. The world has not yet breached the Paris Agreement target despite exceeding 1.5°C in a 12-month period. However, some scientists have said that the target can no longer realistically be met and have urged governments to cut CO2 emissions faster to limit overshooting the target and the deadly heat, drought, and rising seas that this would inflict on people and ecosystems as much as possible.