Last year, the Earth experienced its hottest year ever recorded – however, this record may be surpassed in 2024.

On Tuesday, the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union announced a significant achievement that had been anticipated by scientists for some time: the average global temperature in 2023 has exceeded the previous record set in 2016 and is now the highest on record since 1880.

Furthermore, these rapidly increasing temperatures are posing a significant threat to the ambitious goal set by countries across the globe in the Paris climate agreement over eight years ago: to limit the Earth’s warming since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to data from last year, the world came dangerously close to reaching this limit, with a recorded warming of 1.48 degrees.

The upcoming year may bring even higher temperatures, as nearly half of the global population will vote for leaders whose decisions will impact the ability of nations to mitigate climate change. The data from 2023 shows that the past 10 years have all been among the hottest on record.

According to Copernicus, the most recent record-breaking temperature surpassed the previous record set in 2016 by 0.17 degrees Celsius. On July 6 of last year, the global average temperature reached 62.7 degrees Fahrenheit, equivalent to just over 17 degrees Celsius.

If multiple polls show strong backing, there is a risk to the environmental strategies implemented by the U.S. during President Joe Biden’s term. President Trump has promised to dismantle Biden’s environmentally-friendly policies, denouncing them as a “foolish campaign for a Green New Deal.”

According to climate scientist Kim Cobb from Brown University, there is cause for concern as some candidates on ballots globally may not fully comprehend the extent of climate risks and the potential for taking action against them.

In June, parliamentary elections for the European Union are approaching as leaders in numerous countries face opposition for their climate actions in recent times. Leaders in India and Indonesia, which rely heavily on coal and have faced criticism for their relatively mild efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are expected to be reelected.

Recent polling shows that the U.K. Labour Party is currently leading over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government. The government has reversed its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions and has shown support for offshore oil drilling.

“I am definitely worried about the state of politics in the United States and around the world,” stated Max Holmes, the CEO of Woodwell Climate Research Center located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Many nations have been lacking the determination to pursue established methods for addressing climate change, such as increasing the use of renewable energy and decreasing reliance on fossil fuels, according to him.

The winner of the current election will be responsible for creating a 10-year plan for their country in accordance with the Paris climate agreement, aimed at reducing climate pollution. These plans, to be submitted in 2025, are one of the final opportunities to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era. The agreement also suggests a more ambitious goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees if feasible.

Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, stated that the significant fluctuations we have witnessed in recent months serve as a powerful reminder of how greatly our environment has deviated from the conditions in which our society evolved. These changes have significant implications for the Paris Agreement and all human activities.

Exceeding the 1.5-degree threshold for a brief period of one or two years does not necessarily indicate that countries have not met their goal. According to scientists, the overall long-term temperature rise is estimated to be around 1.2 degrees. However, the previous year provided a preview of the potential effects of surpassing this limit.

The outcomes were not attractive.

Severe flooding forced millions of people to leave their homes in locations ranging from Vermont to Kenya. Meanwhile, Phoenix, the fifth-largest city in the United States, endured a historic heat wave with 31 days in a row of temperatures exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In Canada, wildfires ravaged a record-breaking 45.7 million acres of land, causing dangerous levels of smog and contributing to respiratory issues in the Midwest and Northeast regions.

According to Holmes, Woodwell’s spokesperson, while the new record may not be unexpected, we still tend to be taken aback by its effects. These impacts are becoming increasingly clear and predominantly negative.

Although the effects of climate change may appear more severe than initially predicted by scientists 15 to 20 years ago, Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, did not anticipate it becoming a major issue during the tumultuous U.S. election. He also noted that many have become accustomed to the changing climate and are disregarding the potential dangers it poses to our well-being and way of life.

He stated that we are unaware of our constantly shifting perception of what is considered normal, leading us to underestimate the severity of abnormal situations.

Researchers attributed a significant portion of the temperature rise in the previous year to the continuous growth of human-caused greenhouse gases. They also identified the strong El Niño weather pattern as a contributing factor, as it warms surface temperatures by disrupting ocean winds through a shift in the Pacific jet stream. Further investigation is needed to determine the impact of additional factors, such as the implementation of shipping regulations that restrict fuels which produce aerosols and help deflect sunlight from the Earth’s surface.

Some scientists are questioning if the increase in temperature from last year means that climate change is happening faster. Many experts in the field of climate science believe there is not enough evidence to make a definite statement, but they are open to the idea.

According to Alex Ruane, who leads the climate impacts team at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, it is evident that the consequences of a hotter planet are becoming more severe and will continue to worsen as temperatures increase. The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has determined that extreme heat events, which used to occur only once every 50 years prior to the Industrial Revolution, now happen 4.8 times in that same time period. The analysis shows that if global temperatures increase by 1.5 degrees, these events will occur 8.6 times every half-century. With a 4 degree increase, they will happen 39.2 times.

According to Ruane, the increased rate of warming creates challenges for government officials and businesses in making decisions. Previous assumptions about the performance of infrastructure, like roads and bridges, may no longer be relevant. Seed manufacturers, who typically take 7 to 12 years to release climate-adapted varieties, should now be taking into account changes that will occur 10 to 15 years in the future due to the rapid manifestation of climate effects.

According to Ruane, the climate system is not influenced by politics.

As the Earth’s temperature rises, we are approaching irreversible tipping points that could trigger a chain reaction of climate consequences. It may take scientists years to confirm if a tipping point has been reached. There is significant worry about the melting of large portions of the West Antarctic ice sheet, according to Kate Marvel, a senior climate scientist at the environmental organization Project Drawdown. If this ice sheet were to collapse, sea levels could rise by over one meter.

Many individuals have already reached tipping points due to climate-related disasters or extreme weather events.

Claudia Tebaldi, an Earth scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, stated that the definition of tipping points varies and is dependent on the specific circumstances. She explained that experiencing a catastrophic event that results in losing everything could be considered a tipping point for an individual.