For the first time, the global average temperature was more than 2°C higher on Friday than the seasonal average in the pre-industrial era, i.e. above the upper limit of the Paris agreement for one day. announced the European Copernicus Observatory.
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According to provisional data, global temperatures were, on November 17, 2.06°C above the average from 1850 to 1900, said Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the climate change department (C3S), on X (ex-Twitter). ) of Copernicus.
“This is the first day that global temperatures have exceeded pre-industrial levels by more than 2°C,” she said.
This threshold would, however, have to be crossed on average over several years to consider that the threshold of the Paris agreement would be exceeded.
Signed in 2015 at the end of COP21, it aims to maintain “the increase in global average temperature well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and to continue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
In a 2018 IPCC special report, climate experts gathered under the aegis of the UN adopted as the definition of warming an average “over a period of 30 years” compared to “the reference period 1850-1900” .
The current climate is considered warmer by around 1.2°C compared to 1850-1900.
This first day above the 2°C threshold is part of a series of records: the months of June to October have already been the hottest ever recorded in the world, according to Copernicus, for which 2023 will exceed with a “virtual certainty” the annual record of 2016.
October 2023 was “1.7°C warmer than the average October over the period 1850-1900,” the observatory explained in early November.
These record temperatures result in droughts synonymous with famines, devastating fires or intensified hurricanes, warn scientists and will be the backdrop to the 28th United Nations climate conference in Dubai (November 30-December 12).