John Mecklin
Devastating impacts and insufficient progress
With respect to climate change, 2024 was in many ways similar to 2023: Manifestations of a changed climate continued to be felt increasingly across the world, even as the clean-energy transition continued to gather pace against formidable headwinds.
Major climate indicators showed 2023 to be the warmest year in the 174-year observational record, with the highest measured level of ocean heat content, the highest global mean sea level on record, and the lowest measured Antarctic sea-ice extent—and 2024 is on track to be even warmer. The global average surface air temperature in the January-September period of 2024 was 1.54 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, already slightly exceeding the “defense line” target of 1.5 degrees Celsius put forward in the Paris Agreement.
Similarly, extreme weather and climate events continued to negatively affect societies, rich and poor, as well as ecosystems around the world. East Asia, Southeast Europe, the Mediterranean and Middle East, the Southwestern United States, Southeast Asia, Northern India, Central America, and the Horn of Africa all suffered from heat waves. The Americas and Northwestern and Southern Africa experienced major droughts while Europe, Brazil, the Sahel, Afghanistan, and East Africa endured devastating floods.
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