CNN –
Earth’s temperature has been exceptionally high this year, and scientists have just confirmed what much of the planet was already expecting: 2023 will officially be the hottest year on record.
The analysis by the European Union’s Copernicus climate change service found that global temperatures this year will be more than 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels – close to the 1.5 degree threshold of the Paris climate agreement and beyond, beyond of what scientists say people and ecosystems will struggle to adapt.
Since June, every month has been the hottest month on record, and November saw an increase. The month was about 1.75 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels, and on two days temperatures rose above 2 degrees, worrying scientists about what this means for the planet in the coming years.
The report comes as delegates from more than 150 countries visit Dubai for COP28, the annual UN climate summit, where debate over phasing out planet-warming fossil fuels is heated.
“The timing couldn’t be more urgent,” Brenda Ek Wurzel, director of climate science at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who is not involved in the report, told CNN.
“Wealthy and high-emitting countries that contributed the most to this record year,” she added, “have a greater responsibility for a fair, rapid and funded phase-out of fossil fuels to curb the increasing extreme weather impacts of climate change.”
Scientists say the exceptional warmth in 2023 is the result of the combined effects of El Niño and human-caused climate change. A series of deadly heat waves and remarkable record-breaking temperatures have hit several continents this year, while much of the world has been blanketed by unprecedented sea heat.
According to Copernicus, autumn in the Northern Hemisphere this year was “by far” the warmest since records began around the world. November also saw above-average rainfall across most of Europe, with Storm Ciarán bringing heavy rain and flooding to many regions, including Italy.
As temperatures continue to rise next year, the world appears to be on track to break 1.5 degrees of warming in the longer term in the coming years. Although it is worrying that global warming will exceed this temperature for months, scientists are particularly concerned that the planet’s temperature will remain above 1.5 degrees in the long term.
By 2022, the Earth will have warmed by around 1.2 degrees – and recent years have made it clear that the world is already feeling alarming impacts of the climate crisis, for which many are unprepared.
A separate report released Tuesday by the World Meteorological Organization concluded that the decade between 2011 and 2020 was the hottest on record for the planet’s land and oceans, as the rate of climate change “increased alarmingly” and caused dramatic glacial loss and the Sea levels “at full speed” brought rise during this period.
“As long as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, we cannot expect any different results than this year,” said Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo. “Temperatures will continue to rise and with them the effects of heatwaves and droughts.”