2024 in climate change
overview of the events of 2024 in climate change
This article documents events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate change—during the year 2024.
Summaries
19 March: "The climate crisis is the defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis, as witnessed by growing food insecurity and population displacement, and biodiversity loss." —Prof. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, in State of the Climate 2023.
October: "For the first time in human history, the hydrological cycle is out of balance, undermining an equitable and sustainable future for all."
12 November: At the COP29 conference, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres described 2024 as a "master class in climate destruction.
7 April 2025: a study published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science found that the climate extremes of 2023–2024 were exceptional even compared to recent warming trends, with record-breaking global surface air and sea surface temperatures. The research attributes these extremes to a combination of a positive decadal trend in Earth's Energy Imbalance, three consecutive years of La Niña, and a rapid transition to El Niño, resulting in over 75% more heating between 2022 and 2023 than during similar past events. The authors warn that if the current trend in Earth's energy accumulation continues, natural climate fluctuations like ENSO will increasingly produce amplified, record-breaking impacts in the future.
Measurements and statistics
5 February: a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proposed adding a "Category 6" to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale to adequately convey storms' risk to the public, the researchers noting a number of storms have already achieved that intensity.
5 February: a study published in Nature Climate Change, based on 300 years of ocean mixed-layer temperature records preserved in sclerosponge skeletons, concluded that modern global warming began in the 1860s (over 80 years earlier than indicated by sea surface temperature records) and was already 1.7 °C above pre-industrial levels by 2020—a figure 0.5 °C higher than IPCC estimates.
February (reported): a Copernicus Climate Change Service analysis indicated that from February 2023 through January 2024, the running average global average air temperature exceeded 1.5 °C for the first time.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “2024 in climate change” as overview of the events of 2024 in climate change. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as overview of the events of 2024 in climate change. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q124328464. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2024, 2023, 2025 and 2022.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2024 in climate change”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2024 in climate change primary sources, 2024 in climate change archive and climate research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2024 in climate change”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2024 in climate change” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.