Global temperatures from the past three years averaged more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level, the EU’s earth observation programme, Copernicus, has warned.
Climate scientists say that the latest data underlines once again the speed and danger of climate change.
Copernicus now estimates that the planet could breach the Paris Climate Agreement before the end of the decade.
That’s ten years sooner than forecast back in 2015.
Last year was the planet’s third hottest on record just 0.01°C behind 2023, the second hottest year. It was also the second warmest year on record for Ireland.
The latest report from Copernicus also contains new record highs including the warmest sea surface temperatures in the North-east Atlantic and the warmest year for Antarctica.
Based on current warming, it now looks inevitable that the Paris agreement will be breached in 2029 or 2030.
Copernicus said the planet was now a “world of extreme events”.
From Storm Éowyn bringing floods and power cuts, to extreme heatwaves endangering life, extreme weather now looks to be more common, scientists warn.
“The fact that the last eleven years were the warmest on record provides further evidence of the unmistakable trend towards a hotter climate”, said Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
“The world is rapidly approaching the long-term temperature limit set by the Paris agreement. We are bound to pass it; the choice we now have is how to best manage the inevitable overshoot and its consequences on societies and natural systems.”
Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – mainly a direct consequence of human activities – are the “primary driver” of the observed long-term increase in the global mean temperature, Copernicus scientists warn.