The 2024 northern summer saw the highest global temperatures on record, beating 2023’s high and making this year likely Earth’s hottest ever recorded.
The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service followed a season of heat waves around the world that scientists said were intensified by human-driven climate change.
Extreme weather struck around the globe—with some 1,300 dead during extreme heat at the hajj in Mecca, intense heat testing India’s economy and electric system, and wildfire raging in parts of the western United States.
The June and August global temperature broke through the level of 1.5˚C above the pre-industrial average.
A complete assessment of the impact of the temperature extremes will take time, but a study published in mid-August estimated that 30,000-65,000 people in Europe died from heat-related illnesses in 2023, mainly among the elderly.
Copernicus said the 1.5˚C level has been passed in 13 of the past 14 months.
“The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Copernicus’s deputy director Burgess said.