Global temperatures reach Paris Agreement target of 1.5C above average for 12 months in a row
Large parts of the northern hemisphere faced deadly heat during the world's hottest June on record. (Reuters: Priyanshu Singh)
In short:
Global average temperatures have been at or above the Paris Agreement target of 1.5C for 12 months in a row.
It comes as data shows it was Earth's hottest June on record, with deadly heatwaves spanning large parts of the northern hemisphere.
What's next?
The director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service says even if this specific streak ends, the world is bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm.
Earth has just hit a concerning climate milestone, with data showing global temperatures have now reached or broken the Paris Agreement threshold for 12 months in a row.
According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, run by the EU, June was 1.5 degrees Celsius exactly above pre-industrial levels.
It was also Earth's hottest June on record, with the month marked by several deadly heatwaves which spanned large parts of the northern hemisphere.
The 12-month streak above 1.5C does not mean the world has failed to achieve the Paris Agreement's temperature goal, which refers to a long-term temperature increase over decades.
However, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service Carlo Buontempo said it was "more than a statistical oddity", highlighting a large and continuing shift in our climate.
"Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm," he said.
"This is inevitable, unless we stop adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the oceans. "
The scientists also noted datasets other than the ERA5, which is used by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, may not confirm the 12-month streak due to the relatively small margins above 1.5C during June.
The 2015 Paris Agreement, a treaty in which 195 nations pledged to tackle climate change, is about limiting global warming from reaching dangerous levels.
The agreement aims to limit global warming to "well below" 2C by the end of the century, and "pursue efforts" to keep warming within the safer limit of 1.5C.
The 1.5C target was agreed because there is strong evidence that the impacts would become much more extreme as the world got closer to 2C.
Hot June in the spotlight
The year-long streak comes after thousands of people across Asia, Europe and America faced extremely high temperatures during June — in some cases, over 50C — in what has now become the 13th consecutive month to set a record for global monthly temperatures.
Sprinklers spray water onto a walkway during extremely hot weather, as Muslim pilgrims walk during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia. (REUTERS: Saleh Salem)
Climate scientist Andrew Pershing, vice-president for science at Climate Central, said it was evidence of the impact humans were having on the planet.
"There's nothing really natural about many of these weather and climate events that we're seeing all over the world," Dr Pershing said.
"These are events that have a very strong human impact on them, from our history of burning coal, oil and natural gas.
"And so we're only going to see these conditions get stronger or more frequent over wider areas, until we get those carbon emissions under control."
In Saudi Arabia, at least 1,300 people died last month from heat-related illnesses during the Hajj pilgrimage as extreme high temperatures gripped Islamic holy sites.
A Muslim pilgrim pours water on his head to cool down from the heat. (Reuters: Mohammed Torokman)
During the event, temperatures in Mecca climbed as high as 51.8C, according to Saudi Arabia's national meteorological centre.
Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said more than 80 per cent of the fatalities were unauthorised pilgrims who walked long distances in soaring temperatures to perform the Hajj rituals.
It was far from the only extreme heat event recorded around the world.
During the last two weeks of June, the US suffered through two back-to-back extreme heat events in the country's south and east.
The first heatwave, which hit southern parts of the US, Mexico and countries in Central America, saw reports of temperatures nearing 52C in Sonora State.
New York was also hit with a heatwave in late June, with cooling centres opened up for people to take refuge from the heat. (Reuters: Jeenah Moon)
Meanwhile, countries around the Mediterranean also endured weeks of blistering high temperatures during June.
Europe this year has been contending with a spate of dead and missing tourists amid dangerous heat.
It includes British television host and celebrity doctor Michael Mosley, who is believed to have died of heat exhaustion after losing consciousness while walking in 40°C temperatures in Greece last month.
In India, one of the country's worst-ever and longest-running heatwaves finally relented in mid-June, after leaving more than 40,000 people with suspected heat stroke and at least 110 people dead between March 1 and June 18, according to an official at the Indian health ministry.
New Delhi clocked 38 consecutive days with maximum temperatures at or above 40C since May 14, according to weather department data. (Reuters: Priyanshu Singh)
Dr Pershing said while many of these places were expected to be hot this time of year, the level of heat and the timing was out of the ordinary.
"So what's really standing out to us is, first of all, is that the heat is starting so much earlier," he said.
"Even hot places, like in the south-west of the US, like Arizona, New Mexico and California, we normally wouldn't see these temperatures until later in the summer."
Dr Pershing said the number of heat events playing out at once was also unusual.
"A decade or two ago you'd get one here, one there, but it's really all of these things popping up at the same time that really underscores how unusual the climate is this year."
Climate change tripled extreme heat likelihood, analysis shows
In response to the large number of extreme heat events in June, Climate Central conducted an analysis looking into how much more likely these events were from climate change.
Dr Pershing said this was so they could separate some of the "noise" from weather events and their natural causes, from the climate change signal.
It found more than 60 per cent of the world population faced extreme heat that was made at least three times more likely by climate change in the 9 days from June 16-24, 2024.
Sixty per cent of the world's population experienced extreme heat reaching CSI levels of at least 3, indicating that climate change made these temperatures at least three times more likely to occur. (Supplied: Climate Central)
Dr Pershing said it was a result that was concerning, but not surprising.
"These are the conditions that we expected to see, based on the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere right now," Dr Pershing said.
"And so a lot of it is just reporting that experience that people all over the world are having with the big change of climate that humans have put on the planet."