2024 on track to be hottest year on record

BAKU, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The report, released during the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP29, noted that the ambitions of the Paris Agreement are “in great peril.”
The January-September global mean surface air temperature was 1.54 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, boosted by a warming El Nino event, according to an analysis of six international datasets used by WMO.
The report also noted that 2015-2024 will be the warmest 10 years on record, with the accelerating loss of ice from glaciers, sea-level rise and ocean heating.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said it is important to note that monthly or annual data “does not mean that we have failed to meet the Paris Agreement goal.”
“However, It is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters… every additional increment of global warming increases climate extremes, impacts and risks,” Saulo added.
Paris Agreement aims to keep the long-term global average surface temperature increase to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the warming to 1.5 degrees. ■