Overview

• The 2024 global temperature averaged 1.52°C above pre-industrial levels, marking the first time a single year topped the 1.5°C threshold under the Paris Agreement.
• Human activities accounted for 1.36°C of this increase, with natural variability and El Niño contributing the remainder.
• The updated carbon budget has shrunk to roughly 130 billion tonnes of CO2—just over three years at current emission levels—to keep warming below 1.5°C.
• Global sea levels rose 26 mm between 2019 and 2024, accelerating at twice the pace measured since 1901.
• Six months before COP30 in Brazil, scientists call for rapid and sustained greenhouse gas cuts to mitigate further warming and sea-level rise.