The data from June 2024 positions it as the warmest June that has been recorded, which only further accentuates the increasingly frequent record-breaking months since June 2023. Announcing its January 2020 report, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) unveiled that each month of the previous 13 has been documented as the hottest for that month on record globally.
Scientists at Berkeley Earth and other organizations have a relatively high degree of certainty now that 2024 can become hotter than 2023 globally and become the hottest year on record. Science has it that the likelihood of such an event happening is 95%, which has been caused by both man-made climate change and natural climatic phenomenon known as El Nino.
The effects of this unfolding climatic change are catastrophic as we have seen in most recent environmental disasters. In the recent past, over 1,000 people died due to the attack of extreme temperatures especially during the recent Haj pilgrimage, though the effects were also felt in other regions such as New Delhi where city dwellers experienced long and scorching heat waves that claimed many lives due to heat stroke. Tourists in Greece were not left behind as they too suffered from the heat wave that hit many parts of the country.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist from Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, noted that while El Nino was a natural process that could not be affected by human beings’ actions, climate change was deemed to have human influence and thus warrants early attention. They emphasized that the GHG emission cuts from fossil fuels are essential to avoid further increases in global temperatures.
However, the record temperature that is currently being experienced did receive help from the latest El Nino phase which is reputed for its effect on warming the water on the surface of the Pacific Ocean but this has since been deactivated. Currently, it is characterized as rather neutral, though some cooler La Nina conditions are anticipated in the second half of the year.
Turning to the climate change goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the question is whether or not global commitment has been sufficient. The C3S reports the average temperature of the global through the twelve months leading to June which stands at a record high of 1. 2C above preindustrial levels (1850-1900) That was the highest ever recorded in Britain temperature at 64 degrees Celsius.
Given the recent evidence of new climate extremes in the world and their dramatic disastrous effects, the further increase in average temperature should be prevented. The obstacles serve to highlight the necessity of effective measures and global collaboration in addressing climate change issues to ensure the sustainability of the planet.
This is even more shocking given the fact that there is still much more that needs to be done to combat the effects of climate change indicating the need to act faster.
