Global average surface temperature 1.55C above pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900)
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Friday confirmed that 2024 the warmest year on record, marking a critical moment in the global fight against climate change.
Based on six independent international datasets, the global average surface temperature was 1.55C above the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900), with a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13C.
The data likely signifies the first calendar year where global temperatures exceeded 1.5C degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels -- a symbolic threshold in the Paris Agreement aimed at limiting global warming.
The findings highlight a decade-long trend of record-breaking temperatures, with the last 10 years all ranking among the warmest ever recorded.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo stressed the gravity of the situation. "Climate history is playing out before our eyes. This extraordinary streak of warming has brought devastating and extreme weather, rising sea levels, and melting ice, all driven by record greenhouse gas emissions from human activities," she said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the findings a "cold, hard fact" and urged immediate and decisive action from world leaders.
"Blazing temperatures in 2024 require trail-blazing climate action in 2025," he said. “There's still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe, but leaders must act—now.”
Guterres emphasized that surpassing 1.5C in a single year does not signify the failure of the Paris Agreement's long-term goals, which assess warming over decades rather than individual years.
He and Saulo underscored that every fraction of a degree of warming has tangible and worsening consequences for economies, ecosystems and human lives.
The exceptional heat in 2024 was accompanied by unprecedented climate effects, including more frequent and intense extreme weather events, rising sea levels and significant ice melt. The effects illustrate the urgent need for transformative global action.
“Every additional increment of warming increases the impacts on our planet,” said Saulo. “Whether warming is above or below 1.5C in a given year, the trend is clear: we must act decisively.”
