The European Union’s climate monitoring agency announced on Monday, July 8th, that last month was the hottest June on record globally, with abnormally high temperatures reported around the world. Some scientists suggest that this trend could make 2024 the hottest year on record.
According to Reuters, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), an EU climate monitoring agency, stated in its monthly briefing released on Monday that every month since June 2023 has been the hottest on record compared to the same period in previous years, totaling 13 consecutive months of record-breaking heat.
Some scientists believe that the latest data indicates that 2024 has the potential to surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record. Temperatures have repeatedly reached historic highs so far this year.
Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at the US non-profit temperature monitoring organization Berkeley Earth, stated, “I now estimate that there is about a 95% likelihood that 2024 will exceed 2023, becoming the hottest year on record globally since the mid-19th century.”
Climate change has already brought catastrophic consequences to various parts of the world in 2024. During last month’s pilgrimage in Mecca, over a thousand people died due to extreme heat. In India’s New Delhi, which experienced unprecedented prolonged high temperatures, deaths from heatstroke were reported, and tourists in Greece also succumbed to the extreme heat.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, also expressed that it is “very likely” that 2024 will become the hottest year on record.
The dataset from the Copernicus Climate Change Service dates back to 1940, and scientists have cross-checked this data with others to confirm that last month was the hottest June since the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900.
The EU climate monitoring agency stated that the world’s average temperature over the past 12 months ending in June reached a record high, surpassing pre-industrial average temperatures by 1.64 degrees Celsius.
This alarming trend emphasizes the urgent need for global action to address climate change and its devastating impacts.