This limit refers to the average temperature around the globe - which is set to be 1.5C higher than in pre-industrial age. This change in temperature is owed to human-made climate change, however smaller natural factors such as the El Niño weather pattern contributed to the change this year.
The 1.5C limit was agreed as a warning amongst world leaders during the Paris agreement in 2015, however whether this year does in fact reach the 1.5C limit does not mean that the agreement has been broken. The Paris agreement refers to average temperatures over longer periods of time, such as 20 years - unfortunately, any one calendar year breaking this record negatively contributes to this agreement.
This prediction came right before the COP29 started in Azerbaijan this year and scientists hoped that it would come as a warning to governments attending the climate change conference.
Apart from highest-on-record temperatures, this year also saw many natural disasters, which were caused by the global warming.
Hurricanes in the US, including Helene and Milton becoming more stronger due to climate change - events like Hurricane Helene have now become 2.5 times more likely to appear in Florida.
Wildfires in the Amazon became 40% more damaging and four to five times more likely to occur. This year, wildfires burned 32 million acres in the Brazilian rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, releasing 150 million tons of carbon dioxide - more than some developed country’s emissions a year.
Rainfalls were also affecting the planet, with the most intense rainfalls recorded in central Europe in September, with some areas in Spain witnessing a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours in October.
Many scientists are now hoping that net year’s temperatures might drop due to the natural weather pattern La Niña. However, greenhouse gas emissions are still rising quickly, and heatwaves, wildfires, rainfalls are becoming more common - so it is only a matter of time, scientists warn, before new records are set.
