The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found that the average temperature last year surpassed that of the previous hottest year, 2016, by 0.17 degrees Celsius (0.31 degrees Fahrenheit).
2023’s average temperature was also 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average temperature between 1850 and 1900 — a baseline period that’s often used to look at the impacts of industry on climate change.
“The extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we now are from the climate in which our civilization developed,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.
“If we want to successfully manage our climate risk portfolio, we need to urgently decarbonize our economy,” he added.
The EU climate service also found that nearly half the days in 2023 were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial levels.
A key goal of the 2015 Paris agreement was to keep warming under 1.5 degrees in order to evade the worst impacts of climate change.
And two days in November were 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — the first time on record that has happened.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
