Where the world warmed the most in the hottest year on earth

Last year, more than 40 percent of the Earth’s surface was at least 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was in the late 1800s, a Washington Post analysis of temperature data released by the nonprofit Berkeley Earth found. The 1.5°C warming level is the standard set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and experts believe it is an important step that could limit the most dire consequences of climate change compared to 2°C or 3°C of warming. It claims to be the goal.

Roughly one-fifth of the planet is already warmer by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since the late 1800s, before humans started burning fossil fuels on a large scale. Approximately 5% of the planet has warmed by more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4F). This is a rapidly warming region around the North Pole.

“Nothing magical happens at 1.5 degrees, where the shock is suddenly much worse than 1.45 degrees,” said Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. But he added that a 1.5 to 2 degree rise in temperature would “significantly increase the impact”.

The newspaper created a map of the areas with the largest temperature anomalies in 2023. These are regions that are warming so rapidly that the climate is already testing the limits of human infrastructure and the natural world’s ability to cope.

Scientists say that although there is some natural variation in temperature from year to year, the world will soon face increasing climate impacts unless countries take drastic action to reduce emissions. It is said to become.

“In 20, 30 years, we will see the climate of the early 2020s, [the temperature] Even when it was cold, in a way it was still manageable,” Buontempo said.