Earth Broke Heat Records 12 Months Straight

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that the past year saw record-breaking heat, with global temperatures surpassing all historical measurements. According to Copernicus, May marked the 12th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, and exceeded a key Paris Agreement temperature target. The Week reports: The stretch is a 'stark warning.' In a separate study published Wednesday, a group of 57 scientists found that human activity was responsible for 92% of 2023's warming, which increased at a rate 'unprecedented in the instrumental record.'

While averting catastrophe is 'still just about possible,' the decisions made by global leaders 'especially in the next 18 months' will determine whether the planet can be saved, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a special address. 'We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.'

Without serious efforts to reverse global warming, 'this string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold,' Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said. 'The 11 months in a row that tied or broke the 1.5C barrier did not yet constitute a breaching of the Paris target, since the benchmark refers to a timescale of multiple decades,' notes Axios. 'Still, the fact that the climate is now exceeding the target with greater regularity, and is projected to continue doing so, is a sign of the matter's urgency.'

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