Amsterdam, Netherlands – The Copernicus ClimateChange Service EU climate service data has shown that for the first time global warming has likely exceeded a global average of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial baseline across an entire year, from February 2023 to January 2024.[1]
Ian Duff, Greenpeace International campaigner for Greenpeace's Stop Drilling Start Paying climate campaign, said:
"The announcement of a year-long period in which the average global temperature very likely exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial global average in 2023-2024 is a frightening reminder that government action to bring down emissions to zero is more urgent than ever. Every fraction of a degree of warming spells more extreme weather and more sea level rise impacting millions of people and other living creatures.
"That is why all new oil and gas projects must stop and polluters like Chevron, Exxon, Shell, and TotalEnergies must be made to pay for the damage they've caused by financing the just and fair transition away from fossil fuels that we need.
"It's fundamentally unjust that whilst Big Oil announces mind-boggling profits Chile is burning, countries from Spain and Morocco to Ethiopia are facing killer droughts, Australia faces a severe heat wave, and DR Congo faces its worst floods in decades.
"Big Oil knew about climate change for seven decades and invested millions of dollars to deny it and delay any action. Now it's too late for small changes, but it's not too late to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to protect our homes and maintain a liveable planet by radically transforming the economy.
"The fossil fuel giants will not reform themselves: governments around the world must force that industry to stop drilling for new oil and gas and start paying for immense damage that the climate crisis does to the planet and the people living on it."
