Scientists have confirmed 2024 was the world’s hottest since records began, eclipsing the previous record set in 2023 and raising alarm that burning fossil fuels has left the planet ‘teetering on the brink’ of breaking the 1.5°C barrier set by the Paris Agreement.
Coordinated modelling and analysis produced by experts at NASA, European climate service Copernicus the US weather service NOAA, the UK Met Office, Berkeley Earth and the World Meteorological Organisation finds every year in the past decade has been one of the hottest 10 on record.
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The burning of coal, oil and gas is driving rising temperatures. For the first time in 2024 global average temperature was 1.6°C above the pre-industrial average, breaching the 1.5°C limit identified by scientists as necessary to maintain a safe and liveable climate long-term.
Climate Councillor, Professor David Karoly, said: “These are not the records any climate scientist wants to see broken. When it comes to rising temperatures, rising sea levels and rising damage bills from unnatural disasters, every fraction of a degree matters.
Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense. The warmer atmosphere supercharges rain events, like the flooding in Spain that saw cars swept through the streets and, closer to home the flooding from ex-tropical cyclone Kirrily that became a statewide disaster event in Queensland last January.
“The agencies and scientists behind the latest findings remind us that ‘the future is in our hands’, slashing climate pollution this decade is critical.”
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said: “People world-wide have suffered through 10 years of record-breaking temperatures, driving deadly heatwaves, ferocious fires and record breaking flooding. 2025 must be game on for climate action in Australia.
“When the alarm bells are ringing, you act immediately. Slashing climate pollution this decade is critical to safeguard our children’s future. This is the challenge for our political leaders this election year.
“It’s time to draw a line in the sand and say ‘no more fossil-fuelled temperature records’. Australia has everything we need for this to be the year we set records for all the right reasons: from climate ambition to renewable power, nature restoration to clean transport.”
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2024 temperature “highlights”
- 2024 was the warmest year for global surface air temperature based on records going back to 1850. The global average temperature of 15.10°C was 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average and 0.12°C above 2023, the previous warmest year on record. This is equivalent to 1.60°C above the pre-industrial level (1850-1900 reference period).
- A new record high for daily global average temperature was reached on 22 July 2024, at 17.16°C.
- 2024 was the warmest year for all continental regions, except Antarctica and Australasia (2), as well as for sizeable parts of the ocean, particularly the North Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific Ocean.
- The atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase and reached record annual levels in 2024, at 422 parts per million (ppm) and 1897 parts per billion (ppb) respectively. Carbon dioxide concentrations in 2024 were 2.9 ppm higher than in 2023, whereas methane concentrations were 3ppb higher.
- Each month from January to June 2024 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year on record. Each month from July to December, except August, was each the second warmest, after 2023, for the time of year. August 2024 was tied with August 2023 as the warmest on record.
- The average extra-polar Sea Surface Temperature (SST) was at record high levels for the time of year from January to June 2024, continuing the streak of record months seen in the second half of 2023. From July to December 2024, the SST was the second warmest on record for the time of year, after 2023.
- The total amount of water vapour in the atmosphere reached a record value in 2024, at about 5% above the 1991–2020 average, according to ERA5, more than 1% higher than in 2016 and 2023, the years with the previous highest and second highest values, respectively.
- Extreme temperatures and high humidity contribute to increased levels of heat stress. Much of the Northern Hemisphere experienced more days than average with at least ‘strong heat stress’ during 2024, and some areas saw more days than average with ‘extreme heat stress’.
- Around Antarctica, after reaching record-low values for the time of year during eight months of 2023, the sea ice extent reached record or near-record low values again during a large part of 2024. From June to October, the monthly extent ranked second lowest, behind 2023, and lowest in November.
- In the Arctic, the sea ice extent was relatively close to its 1991–2020 average until July but fell well below average in the following months.
