The year 2024 is "candidating" for the title of the warmest in history

Humanity is simmering this summer. Temperature records fall one after another. Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, the EU's climate change monitoring service announced. This continues a series of exceptional temperatures that, according to some scientists, make 2024 on track to become the hottest year ever recorded. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin that every month since June 2023 - 13 months in a row - has been the warmest on record, compared to the corresponding month in previous years . The latest data suggests 2024 could surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record, after human-induced climate change and the natural El Nino weather phenomenon both pushed temperatures to record highs this year, they said. some scientists. "I now estimate that there is about a 95% chance that 2024 will surpass 2023 and be the warmest year since global surface temperature records began in the mid-1800s," said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth. Climate change has already unleashed disastrous consequences around the world in 2024. Last month, more than 1,000 people died from heatwaves during the Haj pilgrimage. Deaths caused by the heat wave were also recorded in New Delhi, which endured a heat wave of unprecedented duration, but also among Greek tourists. Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London's Grantham Institute, said there was a "high chance" that 2024 would be the hottest year on record. "El Nino is a natural phenomenon that will always appear and disappear. We can't stop El Nino, but we can stop burning oil, gas and coal," she said. The natural phenomenon El Nino, which warms the surface waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, tends to increase the average global temperature. This effect has diminished in recent months and the world is currently in neutral conditions ahead of cooler La Nina-type conditions that are expected to form later this year. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are the main cause of climate change. Despite promises to reduce global warming, countries have so far failed to reduce these emissions collectively, leading to steady rising temperatures for decades. In the 12 months ending in June, the average global temperature was the highest recorded for such a period, 1.64 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial 1850-1900 average, C3S said.