For the first time: World exceeds 2°C in global warming

Global warming has exceeded 2°C on a single day compared to pre-industrial times for the first time. The year is likely to go down in history as the warmest year ever.

One record is chasing the next this year. After a record-warm October worldwide, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service has now recorded a new, unpleasant record.

For the first time last Friday, November 17, the global temperature was more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The average period between 1850 and 1900 is defined as pre-industrial.

The often-cited 1.5°C target aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100. Almost all countries in the world agreed to the target in Paris in 2015. The global deviation is averaged over an entire year.

For now, breaking the 2-degree mark only took place on a single day. This contrasts with the lower average values ​​on most other days of the year. Meaning that the increase in the global annual mean temperature will ultimately settle somewhere close to the 1.5 degree threshold.

The World Meteorological Organisation assumes that the 1.5 degree temperature threshold will also be exceeded on average between 2023 and 2027.

However, the climate target has not yet been missed. It aims to limit warming by the year 2100. Theoretically, a drop in temperature is still possible by then.

Several studies suggest that with global warming between 1.5 and 2 degrees, the first so-called tipping points could already be reached.

These are processes in the Earth's climate system that "tip over" at a certain temperature increase and, according to the theory, continue to run on their own irreversibly.

The year 2023 is on track to be the warmest year in weather history. The annual average is currently 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In addition to man-made climate change and the weather phenomenon El Niño, there are other probable causes for this. Including a volcanic eruption in the Pacific in 2022.

At that time, an underwater volcano near Tonga catapulted gigantic quantities of water vapour into the stratosphere. Water vapour is considered the most important greenhouse gas on Earth.