Erick Burgueño Salas
Research expert covering climate change and the water industry
Global warming - statistics & facts
The 10 warmest years since records started have all occurred since 2014, with 2023 being the warmest. In fact, in 2023, the global land and ocean surface temperature was 1.19 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average. While temperatures have risen naturally since the Earth formed some 4.5 billion years ago, the temperature rise in recent decades has been recorded at a much faster rate, affecting all corners of the planet.
This is part of a series on the effects of climate change.
Global warming also drives heat waves and droughts that are becoming more frequent and intense. Between 2022 and 2023, 23 countries declared drought emergencies worldwide, with India and Sri Lanka being the last ones to do so in August 2023. According to projections, if the world surpasses the 1.5-degrees-Celsius mark, some 950 million people are expected to experience heat stress and desertification. Meanwhile, extreme temperature events worldwide are also becoming more frequent. Projections for a one-degree-Celsius warming scenario estimate 2.8 extreme heat events per decade, doubling to 5.6 events under two degrees Celsius of warming.
This is part of a series on the effects of climate change.
What causes global warming?
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, human activities have unequivocally caused global warming. This has mainly occurred due to a much higher buildup of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere from activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and farming. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane trap heat in the atmosphere, which in turn warms the planet in a process known as the greenhouse effect. As of 2023, the global temperature had increased by 1.3 degrees above the pre-industrial average.The effects of global warming
The impacts of a warming climate are numerous and severe, from extreme heat waves, deadly droughts, and wildfires to rising sea levels and melting ice caps. The maximum extent of global sea ice, which is typically recorded in November of each year, has shrunk over the past four decades as a result of global warming. In November 2023, it stood at 23.9 million square kilometers, a 13 percent decline compared with 1980.Global warming also drives heat waves and droughts that are becoming more frequent and intense. Between 2022 and 2023, 23 countries declared drought emergencies worldwide, with India and Sri Lanka being the last ones to do so in August 2023. According to projections, if the world surpasses the 1.5-degrees-Celsius mark, some 950 million people are expected to experience heat stress and desertification. Meanwhile, extreme temperature events worldwide are also becoming more frequent. Projections for a one-degree-Celsius warming scenario estimate 2.8 extreme heat events per decade, doubling to 5.6 events under two degrees Celsius of warming.
Tackling global warming
In 2015, nearly 200 nations adopted the Paris Agreement. The international treaty commits countries to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, targeting 1.5 degrees Celsius, in a bid to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, in a scenario where all announced net-zero targets, long-term targets, and Nationally Determined Contributions were fully implemented, the global mean temperature increase would reach two degrees Celsius by 2100. Based on current policies, as of December 2023, the world is heading for 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
