How 2024 broke all the wrong records
Jakarta—Climate change is the most pressing problem humanity will face this century. Tracking how the climate is actually changing has never been more critical. Last week, the World Meteorological Organization published its annual State of the Climate report, which found heat records kept being broken in 2024.
It is likely 2024 was the first year to be more than 1.5 degree Celsius above the Earth’s preindustrial average temperature. In 2024, levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit the highest point in the last 800,000 years.
The combination of heat and unchecked emissions, the organization points out, had serious consequences. Attribution studies found a link between climate change and disasters such as Hurricane “Helene,” which left a trail of destruction in the southeastern United States, and the unprecedented flooding in Africa’s arid Sahel region.
Steadily rising global average temperatures show us the influence of the extra heat we are trapping by emitting greenhouse gases. The 10 warmest years on record have all happened in the past 10 years. Almost all parts of the world were much warmer in 2024 than even recent averages (1991–2020), and much of the tropics experienced record heat.
There are a few extra factors at play in this record-breaking global temperature, including an El Niño event boosting eastern Pacific Ocean temperatures in the first part of 2024, falling pollution from shipping leading to less cloud over the ocean, and a more active sun as well.
It is not just global temperatures breaking records.
Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere reached 427 parts per million last year. Sea level rise has accelerated and is now about 11 centimeters above early 1990s levels, and the oceans are at their highest temperatures on record.
Seasonal sea ice in the Arctic and around Antarctica shrank to low levels (albeit short of record lows) in 2024, while preliminary data shows glacial melt and ocean acidification continued at a rapid pace.
In the English-speaking media, extreme events affecting North America, Europe, and Australia are well covered. By contrast, extreme weather and its fallout in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia get less coverage.
In September 2024, Super Typhoon “Yagi” killed hundreds and caused widespread damage through the Philippines, China, and Vietnam. Later in the year, Cyclone “Chido” struck Mayotte and Mozambique causing more than 100,000 people to be displaced. Hundreds died in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan due to spring floods following an unusual cold wave.
Unusual flooding hit parts of the arid Sahel and even the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile the worst drought in a century hit southern Africa, devastating small farmers and leading to rising hunger.
Much of South and Central America was hit by significant drought. Huge tributaries to the Amazon River all but dried up for the first time on record. Severe summer heat hit much of the northern hemisphere, while more than 1,300 pilgrims died during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca as heat and humidity pushed past survivable limits.
Globally, extreme weather forced more people from their homes than any other year since 2008, which had widespread floods and fires.
Did climate change play a role in these extreme events? The answer ranges from a resounding yes in some cases, to a likely small role in others. Scientists at World Weather Attribution found the fingerprints of climate change in Hurricane Helene’s large-scale rain and winds, as well as the flooding rains in the eastern Sahel.
This report is a dire score card. The numbers are sobering and scary but sadly, not surprising.
We have known the basic mechanism by which greenhouse gases warm the planet for over 100 years. The science behind climate change has been around a long time. But our response is still not up to the task.
Currently, our activities are producing ever more greenhouse gas emissions, trapping more heat and causing more and more problems for people and the planet. Every fraction of a degree of global warming matters. The damage done will keep worsening until we end our reliance on fossil fuels and reach net zero. Slowing these increasingly dangerous changes to Earth’s climate will require a rapid shift from fossil fuels to clean energy. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
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Andrew King is an associate professor in climate science at the University of Melbourne, while Linden Ashcroft is a lecturer in climate science and science communication in the same university. The article is republished under a Creative Commons license.
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The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of the Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 media titles in the region.
