In a sobering announcement just ahead of a pivotal climate summit, leading scientists have confirmed that 2023 is poised to claim the dubious title of the hottest year ever recorded. Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, unequivocally stated, “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.” This revelation underscores the urgent need for ambitious climate action as the world gears up for Cop28.
Last month, the world witnessed the hottest October on record, with temperatures soaring 1.7 degrees Celsius above those from the late 1800s, signaling an alarming trend. Human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, have released heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, driving up the planet’s temperature by 1.2 degrees Celsius since the onset of the Industrial Revolution.
Friederike Otto, a distinguished climate scientist at Imperial College London, emphasized the real-world consequences, stating, “The fact that we’re seeing this record-hot year means record human suffering. Within this year, extreme heatwaves and droughts, exacerbated by these extreme temperatures, have caused thousands of deaths, livelihood losses, displacement, and more. These are the records that matter. That is why the Paris agreement is a human rights treaty, and not adhering to its goals is a violation of human rights on an unprecedented scale.”
Despite commitments made eight years ago in Paris to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, current policies are projected to push the temperature increase to about 2.4 degrees Celsius.
Akshay Deoras, a meteorology research scientist at the University of Reading, emphasized, “The scorching October of 2023 is another unfortunate example that illustrates how temperature records are being shattered by a substantial margin. Global warming due to increased greenhouse gas emissions and El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean is taking a severe toll on our planet.”
This record-breaking heatwave is attributed to a potent combination of factors, including greenhouse gas pollution, the return of the El Niño weather pattern, reduced sulfur pollution, and a volcanic eruption in Tonga.
The importance of addressing this issue is underscored by the undeniable statistics: Copernicus reported that El Niño conditions are developing, but the temperature anomalies observed so far are lower than those seen during previous intense events in 1997 and 2015.
The average global mean temperature from January to October 2023 has already set a new record, surpassing the 10-month average for 2016, which held the previous record for the hottest year, by 0.1 degree Celsius.
Richard Allan, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, emphasized the need for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors to curb the relentless rise in global temperatures and the growing severity of extreme weather events.
This announcement serves as an unwavering wake-up call – global heating is dramatically intensifying extreme weather events at an astonishing pace. It’s a stark reminder that human-caused climate breakdown is exacting a devastating toll in the form of more frequent and deadly heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and droughts worldwide.