The world is on track for a 'hellish' 3°C of global warming by the end of the century, UN warns - as...
In a grim statement, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the world is on track for 'hellish' warming this century. Ahead of , the UN chief has said he thinks Earth will warm by 5.4F (3C) compared with 'pre-industrial' levels, largely due to carbon emissions from human activity. At this rate, scientists think the world could pass several catastrophic points of no return, from the melting of ice sheets to the Amazon rainforest drying out. It comes as Earth has just passed a frightening temperature milestone, Last week, they revealed that air temperatures hit a global average of 3.72F (2.07C) more than the average for between 1850 and 1900. This record, set on November 17, marks the first time the global temperature has gone 3.6F (2C) or more above these 'pre-industrial' levels, the Copernicus experts say. What's more, provisional figures show average air temperatures also reached 3.7F (2.06C) on November 18. Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus climate change service (C3S), said global temperature records 'are being broken with alarming regularity'. The northern hemisphere summer of 2023 was , while July was confirmed as . 'The breaches of the 1.5C and 2C thresholds were to be expected through generalised warming and climate variability,' Mr Buontempo said. '[But] they are still shockingly impactful.' Although the climates in the UK and other parts of Europe are relatively cool right now, parts of the southern hemisphere are currently experiencing brutal heatwaves. Experts blame global warming, although there are naturally occurring phenomena that play a part too. There's a steep increase in warmth over the land areas of the northern hemisphere, plus the naturally occurring effect of El Nino in the tropical eastern Pacific. El Nino is the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, and pushes up global temperatures on top of global warming trends. Mr Guterres has said humanity is 'addicted' to fossil fuels, which he described as the 'poisoned root' of the climate crisis. 'We can either save our world or condemn humanity to a hellish future,' he said. 'We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.' Globally, countries are aiming to keep the average global temperature within 3.6F (2C) and if possible 2.7F (1.5C) as part of the Paris Agreement, a binding climate treaty signed in 2016. However, this measure is taken over a period of around 20 years and so a daily breach as revealed by CS3 does not mean this Paris Agreement goal has failed. All the same, the signs are worrying, according to Dr Paulo Ceppi, a climate scientist from Imperial College London's Grantham Institute. 'Recording average global temperatures of 2C above pre-industrial levels is concerning, but not surprising,' Dr Ceppi said. 'The world has not yet reduced greenhouse gas emissions and the result is the ongoing warming of the climate. 'We will only see warming stabilise when the world moves away from fossil fuels and reduces emissions to net zero.' C3S temperature readings are based on a variety of platforms and instruments, from weather stations to weather balloons and satellites. The service (formerly Twitter), showing a sharp rise in the global average temperature this month. Experts at C3S said daily air temperature averages will continue to vary, and so will likely come back down below the 3.6F (2C) pre-industrial temperature boundary. However, this means it will go past it again at some point in the future. The temperature boundary will be met more frequently on a daily, monthly and yearly basis as long as global emissions continue to rise, according to C3S. The new readings come ahead of the next UN Climate Summit, COP28, which takes places in from November 30 to December 12. World leaders will come together to discuss climate change and agree measures to limit global warming in line with the Paris Agreement. 'As COP28 is just ten days away, it's crucial to understand what these figures signify for our collective future,' said Mr Buontempo.