Scientists officially confirmed this Tuesday (9) that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded in history.
According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, the average temperature recorded last year was 1.48 ºC warmer than the averages of the pre-industrial period, when the world began using fossil fuels on a large scale.
This number is dangerously close to the limit of 1.5ºC of average warming, considered by scientists as the point at which the world will face the most serious climate consequences.
In other words, the planet is, literally, on the brink of the climate abyss.
If global warming is not contained, we will have even more disasters such as absurd heat waves, destructive floods and droughts like the one recorded in the Amazon last year – in addition to the risk of rising ocean levels, which would cause several islands to disappear.
Disastrous data
It was already expected that 2023 would break previous average temperature records, but the data revealed by the Copernicus service is more disastrous than many imagined.
From June to December 2023 every month was the hottest recorded in the world since 1850, compared to the corresponding month in previous years.
Furthermore, temperatures exceeded the 1.5 ºC level of warming on almost half of the days in 2023, setting “a terrible precedent” according to Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo.
And to make matters worse, for the first time, two days in November were 2ºC warmer than in the pre-industrial period.
Human activities, especially the rampant use of fossil fuels, were mainly responsible for the warming of the planet.
But 2023 still featured El Niño, a phenomenon that warms the waters of the Pacific Ocean and contributes to an increase in global temperatures.
Buontempo said that 2023 “was a very exceptional year, in climate terms, even when compared to other very hot years,” he said.
Global warming also raises an alert for the need for greater action from world leaders in an attempt to contain climate change.
The world has been taking very timid and limited steps to change its energy matrix and abandon fossil fuels – in addition to limiting deforestation and controlling other economic activities that help change the climate.
Only energetic actions by the main world leaders would be able to change this situation.
But the timid results of the last COPs, the global climate summits, show that most of these leaders still do not understand the urgency of the issue. And science shows that the world can no longer wait.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
