2024 Hottest Year on Record - Paris Agreement Failed?

According to a new study published by the WMO, 2024 was the hottest year on record, surpassing the 1.5°C warming threshold enshrined in the Paris Climate Accords for 12 months running. With this in mind, we have to ask – has the agreement been broken? And, if so, what does this mean for humanity’s future?

2024 was the hottest year on record. Thats the striking takeaway from a new study by the UN weather agency, which analysed six global climate datasets and found that, for the first time, every month over the past year surpassed  1.5°C (2.7ºF) warming as compared with pre-industrial levels.

“We saw extraordinary land, sea surface temperatures, extraordinary ocean heat accompanied by very extreme weather affecting many countries around the world, destroying lives, livelihoods, hopes and dreams,” shared WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis. “We saw many climate change impacts retreating sea ice glaciers. It was an extraordinary year.”

The reason why this grabbed so much attention lies in the fact that the 1.5°C milestone, agreed upon by nations during the 2015 Paris Climate Summit, is considered the benchmark at which we as a society should aim to limit global warming, and to, at all costs, keep warming well below 2.0°C. After these thresholds, the impacts of warming are likely to accelerate, causing widespread drought, wildfires, heatwaves, ocean warming, and glacial melt.

Whilst making for troublesome reading, the researchers were keen to point out that the new temperature benchmark does not necessarily mean that the threshold has been entirely surpassed; given how global temperatures are measured to a greater extent in patterns and long-term trends, it would require data over the course of at least a decade to show an overall trend. This came hot on the heels of another record-breaking year in 2023, itself also surpassing the previously held record, suggesting that we may have entered a period where a new temperature record will be set annually.

This news should serve as a wake-up call for leaders and policymakers everywhere. For too long, the world has stumbled forward without the governance needed to tackle the climate crisis. Now, more than ever, true multilateral leadership is essential to develop a suitable response to the crisis in a manner that tackles both the causes and effects of climate change – measures to reduce carbon emissions at their source, i.e. mitigation, and to respond to the environmental and societal impacts climate change will necessary cause, i.e. adaptation.

This sentiment was shared by UN Secretary General, António Guterres. In a UN press release on the matter, he stated “individual years pushing past the 1.5°C limit do not mean the long-term goal is shot - it means we need to fight even harder to get on track. Blazing temperatures in 2024 require trail-blazing climate action in 2025,” highlighting the growing need for action.

“There’s still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act – now.”

And the effects of inaction are becoming more and more clear by the day. Take the events in California just last month, where record-breaking fires burned through much of the outer areas of the city of Los Angeles, claiming over 27 lives, destroying over 17,000 structures, and leaving many thousand acres entirely scarred. Thought to have been exacerbated by a confluence of factors including a previous spell of drought, low rainfall, and strong winds - known as the Santa Ana winds, a common phenomenon - it is now considered that the scale of the fires was directly influenced by climate change.

The trend itself looks set to continue. In another statement from the WMO in early February, it was announced that January 2025 was the hottest January on record, seeing temperatures 1.75°C higher than pre-industrial levels and 0.79°C above the 1991-2020 average.

It is starting to sound like a broken record; with headline after headline revealing that we have smashed some new record or caused another once-in-a-generation climate disaster, one would hope that, eventually, the message would get through those in power that now is the time to act. Sadly, as this news shows, the time window to act is passing. This brings into sharper focus the need to adapt to the worst effects of climate change; climate adaptation must now be budgeted for in every corner of the globe, as the economic and social benefits of preparing for a changing climate will be tenfold if we act now, far outweighing the costs of inaction.

If we wait much longer, it may become impossible to reel in warming to a tolerable level and all we will be able to do is protect ourselves against its effects.

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