2024 Becomes Hottest Year on Record, Exceeding Paris Climate Agreement Threshold

NASA and Copernicus confirm 2024 as the hottest year on record, surpassing the 1.5°C threshold of the Paris Climate Agreement, prompting urgent climate action.

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This story was covered by 18 sources. This shows the distribution of these sources: left-leaning (blue), center (gray), and right-leaning (red).

Science

Reliable

The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.

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Summary

A summary of the key points of this story, verified by multiple sources.

NASA and NOAA report 2024 as the planet's hottest year ever, with temperatures 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels. This marks a worryingly significant breach of the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C limit. The consecutive record-breaking years signal escalating climate crises, with evident impacts including extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss. Scientists warn of catastrophic consequences if trends persist. The ongoing El Niño may have contributed to this year's warmth, while La Niña is anticipated for 2025, potentially easing temperatures. Nonetheless, the urgency for global policy action and emissions reductions remains paramount.

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From the Left

A recap of the main views or arguments shared by left-leaning sources.

2024 marked a historic milestone as the first year on record to exceed an average global temperature of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, highlighting the climate crisis driven by fossil fuel usage.
The unprecedented temperature increase necessitates nations to transition to renewable energy and adopt strong action plans to counter extreme weather events.
Experts stress that exceeding the 1.5°C threshold suggests potential catastrophic climate impacts, underlining the need for significant emissions reductions and global cooperation.

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From the Right

A recap of the main views or arguments shared by right-leaning sources.

While 2024 saw a temporary increase in global temperatures above the 1.5°C threshold, scientists caution that this anomaly is influenced by both human factors and natural phenomena like El Niño, making it critical to consider long-term climate averages over single-year extremes.
The recent spike in temperatures has raised alarms about climate policy adherence, particularly regarding the Paris Agreement, emphasizing the necessity of sustained international commitments to mitigate future risks rather than focusing solely on one year's data.
Despite the record-setting heat, some experts point out that the climate system is inherently variable, suggesting that while urgent action is necessary, it is also important to analyze trends over longer timeframes to avoid misinterpretations about the climate's overall trajectory.

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Highlights (16)

Excerpts from the underlying articles that best reflect each outlet's unique perspective on this story.

2024 was the hottest year in the instrumental record... This exceeds, for the first time, the aspirational goal set forth by the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
2024 was the hottest year on record
Reason
Mostly Reliable
The underlying sources generally maintain reliability but have, at times, included opinion pieces, propaganda, or minor inaccuracies. While typically factual, there may be occasional editorialization or subjective interpretation.
·Center
The 1.5 degree C threshold isn’t just a number — it’s a red flag. Surpassing it even for a single year shows how perilously close we are to breaching the limits set by the Paris Agreement.
Earth breaks heat record, goes past dangerous warming threshold
Boston Globe
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Leans Left
But either way, the heat impacts, though meaningful, pale in comparison to the climate damage done by burning fossil fuels, Dessler says.
2024 was the hottest year on record. The reason remains a science mystery
NPR
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
Governments have consistently failed to cut planet-heating emissions at the pace required to avoid the escalating consequences of the climate crisis, as starkly illustrated by fires currently consuming Los Angeles.
2024 was hottest year on record for world’s land and oceans, US scientists confirm
The Guardian
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Leans Left
2024 saw its highest global temperature dating to the beginning of NOAA’s climate record in 1850, just shy of the Paris Climate Agreement’s 1.5-degree ceiling for irreversible damage.
Last year was hottest on record: NOAA
The Hill
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
The new record comes as little surprise after a year beset by extremes.
Last year was the hottest in Earth's recorded history, NASA says
NBC News
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
The 1.5 degree C threshold isn’t just a number — it’s a red flag. Surpassing it even for a single year shows how perilously close we are to breaching the limits set by the Paris Agreement.
Planet recorded hottest year in 2024, broke key 1.5 degree Celsius threshold
PBS NewsHour
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Leans Left
The Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C will not be met, and the long-term average referenced by this target will exceed this threshold in the next five-to-10 years, conservatively.
2024: Earth's hottest year and first to exceed Paris target
Axios
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
“This is a warning light going off on the Earth’s dashboard that immediate attention is needed,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.
Earth records hottest year ever in 2024 and the jump was so big it breached a key threshold
Boston Herald
Mostly Reliable
The underlying sources generally maintain reliability but have, at times, included opinion pieces, propaganda, or minor inaccuracies. While typically factual, there may be occasional editorialization or subjective interpretation.
·Leans Right
While reaching 1.5°C in 2024 is a milestone, surpassing 1.5°C for a single year does not constitute crossing the Paris threshold.
Global temperatures passed critical 1.5°C milestone for the first time in 2024: new report
AlterNet
Mixed Reliable
The underlying sources have a mixed track record. They provide accurate information in some cases but are known to inject bias, sensationalism, or incomplete reporting. Read these stories cautiously and cross-check claims when possible.
·Left
The setting of a new record warm temperature – for the second year in a row – has prompted further pleas from many organizations for more effective and expedient action to try to reign in the warming temperatures, the greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate the warming and the impacts from more intense severe weather events.
Earth passed a critical climate change threshold in 2024, scientists announce
USA TODAY
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
The current trajectory would likely see the world pass 1.5C of long-term warming by the early 2030s. This would be politically significant, but it wouldn't mean game over for climate action.
World's hottest year: 2024 first to pass 1.5C warming limit
BBC News
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
The 1.5 degree C threshold isn’t just a number — it’s a red flag. Surpassing it even for a single year shows how perilously close we are to breaching the limits set by the Paris Agreement.
Earth records hottest year ever in 2024 and the jump was so big it breached a key threshold
Associated Press
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Center
"The extreme weather that swept the globe last year shows just how dangerous life in a warmer world already is."
2024 was the hottest year on record, breaching a critical climate goal and capping 10 years of unprecedented heat
CNN
Reliable
The underlying sources consistently report facts with minimal bias. They demonstrate high-quality journalism and accuracy across multiple articles.
·Leans Left
2024 is the hottest year on record—and the first to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial temperatures.
Earth Surpasses 1.5 Degrees C in Hottest Year on Record
Scientific American
Mostly Reliable
The underlying sources generally maintain reliability but have, at times, included opinion pieces, propaganda, or minor inaccuracies. While typically factual, there may be occasional editorialization or subjective interpretation.
·Leans Left
This is a warning light going off on the Earth’s dashboard that immediate attention is needed.''
Earth Records Hottest Year Ever in 2024 and the Jump Was So Big it Breached a Key Threshold
Newsmax
Mixed Reliable
The underlying sources have a mixed track record. They provide accurate information in some cases but are known to inject bias, sensationalism, or incomplete reporting. Read these stories cautiously and cross-check claims when possible.
·Right