The European Union's climate change monitoring service announced on Wednesday that the world recently saw its warmest April on record, capping an 11-month run in which every month set a new temperature record, according to Reuters.
In comparison to the comparable month in previous years, every month since June 2023 has been rated as the warmest on record for the world, according to a monthly report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
In April, the global average temperature for 12 months was 1.61 degrees Celsius higher than it was during the pre-industrial era of 1850–1900, the highest on record.
Scientists are looking at whether human activity has now caused a tipping point in the climate system due to some of the extremes, which include months of record-breaking sea surface temperatures.
According to Julien Nicolas, Senior Climate Scientist at C3S, "I think many scientists have asked the question whether there could be a shift in the climate system."
The primary driver of climate change is the emissions of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels. Temperatures have also increased recently due to the natural El Nino phenomena, which heats the eastern Pacific Ocean's surface waters.
Numerous extreme weather events in April, including a heatwave in the Sahel that may have killed thousands of people, have previously been attributed to climate change by scientists.
The data, according to Newcastle University climate scientist Hayley Fowler, indicates that the globe is dangerously close to exceeding the 2015 Paris Agreement's target of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"At what point do we declare we've lost the battle to keep temperatures below 1.5? My personal opinion is we've already lost that battle, and we need to think very seriously about keeping below 2C and reducing our emissions as fast as we can," she said.
During a UN climate meeting in 2015, nations decided to aim for 1.5C. Scientists estimate that at this level, the most catastrophic effects of global warming—such as fatal heat waves, severe flooding, and the permanent destruction of ecosystems—would be avoided.
Since the 1.5C objective is an average global temperature over several decades, it hasn't technically been missed yet. Some scientists have urged governments to cut CO2 emissions faster to avoid surpassing the target, claiming that the target can no longer be realistically met.
The scientists cross-checked the 1940-era C3S dataset with additional data to verify that April of this year was the warmest on record since the pre-industrial era.
