»Europa ist der sich am schnellsten erwärmende Kontinent der Erde«

Globally, 2024 was the warmest year on record, following on from the remarkable warmth of 2023. It became the first year with a global average temperature exceeding 1.5°C above the pre‑industrial level.2 The 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement refers to the average temperature exceeding this threshold over a 20‑year period. The latest five‑year average temperature is 1.3°C. The last 10 years have been the warmest ten years on record. Ocean temperatures were also exceptionally high in 2024, influenced by the residual effects of the strong El Niño that peaked in late 2023, and higher‑than‑average or record‑high temperatures in most ocean basins. The annual average sea surface temperature over the non‑polar ocean reached a record high, as did global ocean heat content. Ocean warming and accelerated loss of ice from glaciers and ice sheets contributed to rising sea levels, and the global average sea level reached a new record high in 2024. Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase.

Since the 1980s, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest‑warming continent on Earth. This is due to several factors, including the proportion of European land in the Arctic, which is the fastest‑warming region on Earth, changes in atmospheric circulation that favour more frequent summer heatwaves, and a reduction in Aerosol emissions. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and severe, and southern Europe is seeing widespread droughts. Glaciers in all European regions continue to melt. Changes in the pattern of precipitation, including an increase in the intensity of the most extreme events, have been observed. This can lead to increased flooding and likely contributed to some of the most catastrophic events seen in 2024.

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