Editorial: Hotboxing Earth

Last week, the Indian Meteorological Department said that the year 2024 was the warmest on record in the country since 1901, with the average minimum temperature settling 0.90° Celsius above the long-period average. The annual mean temperature in 2024 was 25.75° Celsius, 0.65 degrees above the long-period average. The previous highest warming observed in the region was in 2016, with an anomaly of 0.54 degrees Celsius. Put together, the last three months from Oct-Dec registered the warmest period on record while individually, October turned out to be the warmest in as many as 123 years.

The rise in temperature is in line with the findings of the European climate agency Copernicus, which said that 2024 likely ended as the warmest year globally and the first with average temperatures 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels. A yearly review by two independent groups of climate scientists — World Weather Attribution and Climate Central, said that the world experienced 41 additional days of dangerous heat in 2024 because of human-caused climate change. These scientists went on to add that climate change worsened much of the world’s damaging weather throughout 2024.

The analysis came at the end of a year that shattered climate record after climate record as heat across the globe made the year that went by, likely to be its hottest ever measured. Experts referred to the findings as devastating but unsurprising as the possibility of spike in episodes of heat, droughts, tropical cyclones and heavy rainfall have turned more likely and more intense across the world, destroying lives and livelihoods of millions.

In South and Southeast Asian countries, including India, heat had compelled school administrations to affect closures. Skyrocketing temperatures in southern Europe forced Greece to close down the Acropolis. The large-scale impact of temperature rise was witnessed in North America as well as Mexico and Central America. Children in West Africa, who were already rendered vulnerable on account of sociopolitical and civil unrest, found yet another challenge in the form of unforgiving heat.

What's unconscionable about the current state of affairs is that the poorest, least developed countries on the planet are the places that are experiencing even higher numbers, literally bearing the brunt of this man-made phenomenon. The challenge is acute in developing nations that don’t have the adequate infrastructure or resources to keep citizens from being exposed to extreme heat. As a massive tumble down effect, we are seeing oceans absorbing huge quantities of CO2, making them key climate regulators. However, warm oceans also create a conducive milieu for powerful hurricanes. Considering the risk of coral bleaching, a recent study found that temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, were the warmest they had been in 400 years.

In 2023, the world hit a milestone: 30% of electricity generation from renewable sources. However, despite promises made at fora like the annual UN climate conferences, the fight against climate change remains an uphill battle. The pain points remain unaddressed to a great extent as the driver of global warming, the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the burning of fuels like oil, gas and coal, continues unabated. A huge obstacle to the green energy transition is the continued investment in fossil fuels like natural gas and the unreasonable targets placed before countries in the global south to 'do their bit' for sustainability, while the West goes on with its tut-tutting on our inability to move fast.