Records falling, country after country. While climate change has been the cause of extreme weather conditions and record heat in 2024, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) affirmed this Monday, December 30 that the year 2024 should be the most hottest ever recorded on the planet.
At the beginning of December, the Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Copernicus Observatory stated that it was “definitely certain that 2024 would be the hottest year recorded, and would exceed by more than 1.5 °C the pre-industrial level”. This milestone is not anecdotal: it was the most ambitious limit of the 2015 Paris agreement, which aimed to contain warming well below 2°C and to continue efforts to limit it. at 1.5°C.
In his New Year’s message, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of “a decade of deadly heat”, referring to the record temperatures recorded during this period. “We must get off this path to ruin and we have no time to lose,” he added. Overview of the countries that have already communicated their weather data for the year 2024.
In China, a record exceeded by more than one degree
The Chinese authorities announced this Wednesday, January 1: the year 2024 was the hottest ever recorded in the country. “In 2024, the national average temperature was 10.92 degrees Celsius, 1.03 degrees warmer over a year. This is the warmest year since 1961, when comprehensive observation records began “, the China Meteorological Administration said on its website. “The last four years are the hottest on record. The 10 hottest years since 1961 have all occurred in the 21st century,” she also said.
China had already recorded in 2024 the hottest July and August since 1961. Its summer was marked by extreme weather phenomena and heat waves which hit large parts of its northern and western regions, causing several dozen of deaths.
The world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, responsible according to scientists for global warming, China nevertheless remains behind the United States and other countries in terms of emissions per capita. The country has promised that its CO2 emissions will peak in 2030 before reaching carbon neutrality in 2060, actively developing renewable energy to achieve this goal.
In Germany, “alarming” heat
Like many other countries, Germany has also broken its heat record in 2024, the German Weather Service (DWD) said. “Since the end of the 19th century, it has never been as hot in Germany as in 2024,” said Tobias Fuchs, responsible at the DWD, in a press release, while the beginning of the readings dates back to 1881.
“What is especially alarming is that 2024 has exceeded the previous year by 0.3 degrees, which is exceptional,” worries Uwe Kirsche, spokesperson for the DWD. In 2023, Germany had already broken its heat record with an average temperature of 10.6 degrees Celsius, which therefore rose to 10.9 degrees in 2024.
“The consequences of intensifying global warming are hitting us with more frequent and more intense extreme weather phenomena,” adds the German weather agency. The country has been hit by extreme heat waves and flooding this summer, which are a direct consequence of climate change caused by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, experts say.
In India, a record and temperatures exceeding 45 degrees
2024 was also the hottest year in India since 1901, the country’s weather services announced on Wednesday, with stifling temperatures part of a global trend of extreme conditions caused by climate change.
“The average annual land surface air temperature in India in 2024 was 0.65 degrees above the long-term average for the period 1991-2020,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the Department Indian meteorologist, during a press conference.
India experienced its longest heatwave on record in 2024, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees. An episode of intense heat in May in New Delhi caused temperatures to rise to equal the record in the capital: 49.2°C recorded in 2022.
In Taiwan, a record that pushes to raise environmental objectives
Taiwan also announced on Tuesday, December 31, that the average temperature in 2024 would be “the highest recorded since 1897,” the Central Meteorological Administration said in a statement. With an average temperature of 24.97°C, the previous record set at 24.91°C in 2020 is therefore exceeded. Despite the warming trend, “relatively lower average temperatures, with a risk of extreme cold waves” are expected in the next two months, the Taiwanese authorities added.
The island announced this Monday, December 30, that it had increased its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target from 25% to 30% for 2030 compared to 2005 levels. During a press conference, the Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming said he was “certain of being able to achieve” this objective thanks to “the development of renewable energies and offshore wind energy by 2025”.
France, next on the list?
The year 2024 will also be one of the hottest for France, continuing a decade of extraordinary temperatures but in line with climatologists’ projections, Météo-France announced in mid-December.
With a provisional average temperature between 14°C and 14.1°C, the year 2024 could finish third or fourth in the annals in France, which date back to 1900, according to data revealed in a preliminary report from Météo-France . This year would thus only be beaten by the national record of 2022 (14.5°C), almost equaled in 2023, and would end close to the temperatures of 2020, the short-lived previous record. “A sign of climate change, 9 of the 10 hottest years in France occurred after 2010,” underlines Météo-France.
But the average temperature of 2024 is not expected to remain exceptional for long: Météo-France expects it to be exceeded “more than one year in two” by 2050, taking into account the current trajectory of gas emissions. greenhouse effect of humanity. “Illustrating the rarefaction of cold in our country”, the 40°C mark has been crossed several times again in the south of France in 2024, and the thermometer “did not fall below -15°C in plain” as already in 2023.