The fight against climate change is still far too hesitant. While the first threshold of permanent global warming of 1.5 degrees can hardly be prevented, the limit of two degrees has now been exceeded for the first time. According to the UN, the Earth is currently heading towards a warming of almost three degrees.
As the European Earth observation program Copernicus announced on Monday based on preliminary data, the global average temperature last Friday was 2.06 degrees above seasonal average temperatures in the 1850s to 1900s.
Are the climate goals still far away?
“This is the first day on which the global temperature was more than two degrees higher,” Copernicus climate expert Samantha Burgess wrote on the online service X (formerly Twitter). This finding fuels fears that the international community will not be able to achieve the climate protection goals it has set for itself.
Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common
The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement agreed to limit global warming to well below two degrees, but if possible to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. However, this does not look at warming on individual days, but at warming over several years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated in 2018 that global warming should be determined over a period of thirty years.
Compared to the period 1850 to 1900, the Earth has already warmed by about 1.2 degrees. Climate change is leading to a global increase and intensification of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfall.
Heat record follows heat record
A number of heat records have already been set this year. According to Copernicus, the months of June to October were the warmest worldwide since measurements began. Temperatures in October were 1.7 degrees higher than October temperatures in the period 1850 to 1900. The European Earth Observation Program expects with “almost complete certainty” that global average temperatures in 2023 will be higher than those of the previous record year 2016.
The acceleration of global warming and its consequences are putting pressure on the negotiating delegations at the World Climate Conference in Dubai (COP28). Measures to combat the climate crisis will be discussed there from November 30 to December 12.
Urgent warnings are not enough
A current report from the UN Environment Program (UNEP) shows how far humanity is currently from achieving its climate goals. Despite urgent warnings and the increasingly noticeable impacts of climate change, the international community’s current climate protection commitments are moving towards dangerous global warming of up to 2.9 degrees.
“Disturbing acceleration” of new climate records
The world is currently experiencing “a disturbing acceleration in the number, speed and magnitude of climate record breaches,” Unep explains. Nevertheless, humanity is emitting record levels of greenhouse gas emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere, mainly through the use of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum.
Even if current climate protection commitments by countries around the world were fully met, the Earth would be on track to warm 2.5 to 2.9 degrees by the year 2100, the UN Environment Program has warned. If only actual climate protection efforts were taken into account, global warming of three degrees could be expected.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
