Did You Know? How Climate Change Caused 41 Additional Days Of Extreme Heat in 2024
In 2024, the world experienced an average of 41 extra days of extreme heat, driven by climate change, according to a new report by the European climate agency Copernicus.
This year is set to close as the hottest on record, with global average temperatures reaching at least 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
A joint review by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central highlighted that small island developing states were among the hardest hit, enduring over 130 additional hot days.
Scientists examined 219 extreme weather events this year and found that climate change directly contributed to at least 3,700 deaths and displaced millions of people.
Floods in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad were particularly devastating, with at least 2,000 fatalities.
Researchers warn that if global warming reaches two degrees Celsius by the 2040s or 2050s, such extreme weather events could become annual occurrences in these regions.
Friederike Otto, lead of WWA and climate scientist at Imperial College London, emphasized the urgent need to stop burning fossil fuels to prevent further climate disasters.
“The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more devastating than in 2024. We know exactly what needs to be done to stop things from getting worse,” Otto stated.
The year is expected to end with global temperatures at least 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. While a consistent breach of the 1.5-degree target set by the Paris Agreement hasn’t yet occurred, experts believe the world is entering a phase where this threshold will be regularly exceeded.
Also, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, global emissions must peak by 2025 and fall by 43% by 2030.
However, current policies project a rise in global temperatures to approximately 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Factors such as reliance on fossil fuels for economic stability, limited technology, and lack of infrastructure continue to slow progress.
This means Fossil fuels remain the primary driver of climate change, contributing over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite global efforts, the transition to clean energy is proving difficult, particularly for developing nations in the Global South.
