With an average of 15.4°C on the surface of the globe, the October 2019 record is beaten by 0.4°C, according to Copernicus, which speaks of an “exceptional” thermal anomaly on a global scale.
The thermometer continues to rise on a global scale. The month of October was the hottest ever recorded in the world, the European Copernicus Observatory announced on Wednesday, November 8. With an average of 15.4°C on the surface of the globe, the past month exceeds the previous record, established in October 2019, by 0.4°C, according to the institute, which describes this anomaly as “exceptional” for global temperatures. October 2023 is Thus “1.7°C warmer than the average October over the period 1850-1900”, or before greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities precipitate climate change.
This reading corresponding to the month of October is part of a succession of monthly records started in June, which should make 2023 the hottest year on record, ahead of the annual record established in 2016. “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the hottest year on record,” announced the deputy head of the climate change department (C3S) at Copernicus, Samantha Burgess, in a press release.
She recalls that “the feeling of urgently needing to take ambitious climate action in the run-up to COP28 has never been stronger”in reference to the 28th United Nations climate conference, which will be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
Since January, the average temperature has been the hottest ever measured over the first ten months of the year: 1.43°C above the climate of the 1850s-1900s, according to the European observatory.
The objective is to limit the increase to 1.5°C
More than ever, 2023 is approaching, over an entire year, the limit set by the Paris Agreement: under this text signed in 2015, the international community is committed to limiting the average rise in global temperature at 1.5°C, a figure beyond which climate disasters will be even more devastating for humans and for biodiversity. The months which have just passed have been marked by droughts synonymous with famines, devastating fires and intensified hurricanes.
While the current climate is considered to have warmed by around 1.2°C compared to 1850-1900, the World Meteorological Organization estimated in the spring that this mark would be crossed for the first time in 12 months in the next five years.
However, it will be necessary to measure 1.5°C on average over several years to consider the threshold reached from a climatic point of view. The IPCC, which brings together climate experts mandated by the United Nations, predicts that it will be with a 50% chance from 2030-2035, taking into account the rate of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from fossil fuels. .