Global warming is a fact: 2024 was the hottest year on record “Our planet is issuing more distress signals”

A report conducted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which is part of the United Nations (UN) has offered a series of stark conclusions on the state of the planet, which endured its hottest year on record in 2024.

Data shows Earth is hotter than ever

The data shows that last year was the first in history to exceed a 1.5ºC (2.8ºF) global temperature increase compared to averaged temperatures between 1850 and 1900. Scientists have previously stated that long-term warming should be limited to 1.5ºC (2.8ºF) to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

That warning, however, applies to the limit being surpassed over a longer period of time, not just a single year, which means the situation can still be reversed.

The WMO’s State of the Global Climate report for 2025 also showed the 10 hottest years were all in the past decade, planet-heating carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are at an 800,000-year high, oceans are at record temperatures, sea levels are rising and glaciers are shrinking faster than ever before.

In 2024, there were 151 “extreme weather events,” across the world, a figure the WMO described as “unprecedented” for a single year.

“Our planet is issuing more distress signals," explained UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Leaders must step up to make it happen — seizing the benefits of cheap, clean renewables for their people and economies”.

Trump issues rollbacks on climate change commitments

Donald Trump is undoubtedly the highest-profile figure to have cast doubt over the existence of global warming and climate change. The U.S. President has issues a series of rollbacks on climate commitments, dismantling key actions that were previously taken at federal level to address the issue.

One of Trump’s first actions in his second term in the Oval Office was to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, aimed at global cooperation on climate change.

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