2024: Hottest Year on Record, Surpassing the 1.5°C Threshold
2024 became the hottest year on record by surpassing 1.5°C warming above pre-industrial levels, triggering severe weather events and underscoring the urgent need for more effective climate policies.
Published on March 28, 2025
Global temperatures in 2024 broke records as the year emerged as the hottest on record, with the global mean surface air temperature exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels between January and September. The World Meteorological Organization issued a Red Alert due to the rapid pace of climate change, driven by greenhouse gas emissions and the El Niño phenomenon. Extreme weather events, including floods, hurricanes, and wildfires, have underscored the severity of the situation, with reports noting significant impacts, such as power demand surges and large-scale evacuations in affected regions.
Additional assessments from early 2025 have confirmed that multiple international datasets registered temperatures between 1.54°C and 1.6°C over pre-industrial norms. These rising temperatures, coupled with inadequate government policies that risk a projected 3.1°C warming by the end of the century, call for immediate global efforts to mitigate impending climate tipping points and prevent further environmental catastrophes.