The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record on the planet

Heat records are now the norm. This summer has been the hottest on record on Earth, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme. The global temperature of the planet during the months of July, June and August was 1.51°C above the pre-industrial era. So far this year, the average temperature has been 0.23°C higher than in the same period last year. If this trend continues, the study projects that 2024 will be the hottest year in history.

One of the most alarming data in the report is the warming of the oceans and the loss of sea ice at the poles. In August alone, the frozen surfaces of the Arctic and Antarctic registered values ​​lower by 17% and 7% respectively compared to the historical average. Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, pointed out that in addition to the hottest summer, “during the last three months the planet has experienced the hottest day” since records began. This was last July 22, when the global temperature exceeded 16°C.

High temperatures have resulted in an intensification of forest fires, especially in Bolivia, Brazil and Canada, where carbon emissions together exceeded 150 megatonnes, more than half of what Spain has emitted in all of 2023. If the last 12 months are compared with the same period last year, in the Pantanal region (Brazil), the largest wetland in the world, the fire outbreaks have multiplied by seven. According to the satellite mapping platform MapBiomas, this Brazilian territory has been the most affected by fires in the last 40 years. Almost 60% of its surface has been consumed by fire.

August is the 13th month in a 14-month period in which global temperatures have exceeded pre-industrial values ​​by more than 1.5°C. The Paris Agreement, which aims to keep temperatures well below 2°C, recommends not exceeding this figure. In order not to break the record, the average temperature should fall by 0.30°C for the rest of the year. In Spain, with an average temperature of 25°C on the peninsula, the month was the warmest August since the beginning of the historical series of the State Meteorological Agency, in 1961.