The World Meteorological Organization says there is a "high probability" that 2024 will be another record-hot year.
The U.N. weather agency cites record increases last year in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures, and melting of glaciers and sea ice, and it is sounding a "red alert" that the world's efforts to reverse the trend have been inadequate.
"They're saying that the 12-month period from March of 2023 to February of 2024 pushed beyond the 1.5° limit, meaning we don't want to go more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures," explains Dr. Cal Beisner, founder and national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. "Averaging 1.56°C higher – that's six hundredths of a degree. That is well within the margin of error."
The margin of error applies to any of the global temperature monitoring systems, including the only one that he says is reliable: the satellite system.
"We really don't know that this new record has been set; we think maybe it has," Beisner acknowledges. "But that's six hundredths of a degree. Whom does that impact? Absolutely nobody."
The "State of the Global Climate" report was released last week, just as climate experts and government ministers prepared to gather in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, to press for greater climate action, including increased national commitments to fight global warming.
