Global Warming Is Already on the Cusp of 1.5C, New Research Finds
Using a new calculation method, scientists find that global temperature rise is within a hair’s breadth of the Paris Agreement limit.
Visitors refresh themselves with water from a fountain during high temperatures in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Aug. 10, 2024.
Photographer: Brais Lorenzo/BloombergA newly proposed method for calculating the global temperature suggests that countries may have already failed their main climate goal: to limit warming to below 1.5C. Scientists using the method say the world was 1.49C hotter than in pre-industrial times by the end of 2023. Conventional accounting puts that number at around 1.3C.
The UK-based scientists behind the new approach, who published it Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, say it simplifies the tracking of climate change, is easier to use and provides a more accurate assessment of warming to date.