This November was the second warmest November on record, confirming expectations that 2024 will be the warmest on record. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Observing Service, global temperatures in November averaged 14.1°C, 0.73° above the 1991-2020 average. Overall, November 2024 was 1.62°C above pre-industrial levels. This makes it the 16th month out of the last 17 when the global average temperature exceeded the pre-industrial period (1850-1900) by 1.5°C.

“With data from the penultimate month of the year, we can say with full confidence that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first calendar year with a temperature rise above 1.5°C,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the service. “This does not mean that the Paris Agreement is broken, but we have to recognize that ambitious climate measures need to be implemented faster than ever,” Burgess emphasizes. This year, from January to November, the average global temperature was 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average. This is the highest for this period and 0.14°C higher than in 2023.

The service is now confident - even excluding December temperatures - that 2024 will be the warmest year on record. The data show that it is almost certain that the average annual temperature will be more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The record was all but confirmed back in October, when the service indicated that the global average temperature would need to fall to almost 0°C in the last two months of the year for 2024 not to be the warmest on record.

Last month, at the COP29 summit in Baku, scientists from the World Meteorological Organization warned that our planet is getting dangerously hotter. They said temperatures have already risen by 1.3°C above the pre-industrial average. The world is currently experiencing unprecedented levels of ocean heating, melting glaciers, droughts, deadly storms and severe flooding. “This is not surprising: we must recognize that scientists have been noting this process for many years, more than 30. What is surprising is the slow response of the global community,” said WMO chief Celeste Saulo at the UN climate conference.