Global Temperatures Poised to Breach 1.5C Warming Benchmark in 2024

As the world approaches the critical 1.5C mark, scientists warn of the catastrophic impacts of each fraction of a degree of warming.

The UK's Met Office warns that 2024's average global temperature could breach the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming benchmark, a key planetary warming threshold.
The 1.5C warming target, adopted in Paris in 2015, remains central to global climate talks, despite some scientists and activists deeming it increasingly unattainable.
Current trends and an expected acceleration from an ongoing El Niño climate pattern suggest that in 2024, global temperatures could average between 1.34 and 1.58 degrees Celsius above preindustrial norms.
The speed at which the planet is approaching the 1.5C mark is raising alarm, with some scientists arguing that the goal is virtually inconceivable without dramatic and immediate emissions cuts.
The world is on course to warm by 2.4-2.7C by mid-century, and well over 3C by 2100, with each fraction of a degree having significant impacts on human mortality, ecosystem destruction, and food supplies.