by After months of it hope, it’s official – 2023 will be the hottest year on record. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced the milestone after analyzing data that showed the world’s warmest November ever.
Last month was about 1.75 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average, Copernicus said, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22 degrees Celsius, or about 57.6 degrees Fahrenheit. And now, Copernicus says, from January to November 2023, average global temperatures were the highest on record – 1.46 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.
The boreal autumn, from September to November, was the hottest overall “by far,” Copernicus said, with a temperature of 0.88 degrees Celsius above average. In September, he reported that the the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record.
“2023 has six record months and two record seasons,” Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess said. “The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, mean that 2023 will be the warmest year on record.”
That difference between pre-industrial times and today puts the world dangerously close to the 1.5 degree Celsius global warming threshold that scientists have been warning about for years. The continued warming means extreme weather events – which they have already gone bad – will get up even more frequent and intenseexacerbating the damage and loss of life from droughts, floods, hurricanes and wildfires.
And it wasn’t just the air that was warmer last month, but the water too.
Copernicus said the average sea surface temperature for ocean waters between 60ºN and 60ºS — roughly south of Greenland to just under South America — was the highest on record, about 0.25 degrees Celsius warmer than the last record. in November, 2015. .
Copernicus warned of this finding last month, saying the title of the hottest year was “almost certainly.”
The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, reiterated the warning at the UN COP28 climate summit just days ago, saying that the extreme conditions this year “have left a trail of devastation and despair.”
The WMO also issued a report on Tuesday saying that “the rate of climate change has increased alarmingly”, with 2011 to 2020 being the warmest decade on record.
At COP28, efforts to reduce emissions — but how soon?
Global temperatures are a major point of debate at the COP28 summit in Dubaiwhich runs through December 12. Greenhouse gases, incl Carbon dioxide and methane among others, yes gases that are assigned heat within the Earth’s atmosphere, warming air temperatures and melting sea ice, which then raises sea temperatures and causes sea levels to rise. Most of the emissions of these gases come from burning fossil fuelsincluding coal, natural gas and oil.
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said the extreme temperatures seen this year will only continue unless major changes are made quickly.
“As long as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise we cannot expect different results from those seen this year,” said Buontempo. “Temperatures will continue to rise and the impact of heatwaves and droughts will continue to rise. An effective way to manage our climate risks is to reach net zero as soon as possible.”
Switching from burning oil and coal to sources like wind and solar energy is a necessary step to reducing emissions, scientists say. One study published in 2022 found that per capita CO2 emissions would be reduced by 1.25% for every 1 percentage point increase in renewable energy consumption. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part of the US Department of Energy, also found that adding 35% more wind and solar energy would reduce carbon emissions by 25% to 45%.
Progress has been made in increasing renewable energy around the world. Just this year, the United States more electricity was generated from the sun and wind nor from coal for a record 5 months, and the The UK generated more power with wind or gas for the first time ever. But many countries, including the US, still are far behind on their promises to make substantial changes.
At COP28, representatives from nearly 200 countries are presenting plans to transition from fossil fuels to Renewable energy. The big debate is whether they will “phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuels — the latter of which would be a slower and weaker global position on the transition.
“If you’re digging a hole and you get too deep and you’re not going where you want to go, the first thing you do is stop digging,” said US climate envoy John Kerry at COP28. “And the equivalent of stopping digging on this matter of the climate is to stop emitting these poisonous gases that are destroying the planet and the lives of future generations and our own ability to survive. … We’re asking you to really embrace a better. quality of life.”
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