The last two years saw average global temperatures exceed a critical warming limit for the first time, Europe's climate monitor said Friday, as the UN demanded "trail-blazing" climate action.

One reason is that global temperatures were off-the-charts hot in 2023, with an average 1.45 °C of warming above the pre-industrial baseline (see ‘Temperature surge’), shattering previous records. This level of warming is outside the range of what scientists expected on the basis of previous trends and modelling.

Last year was not only the hottest since record-keeping began in 1850 but was also the first to pass a threshold meant to limit the worst effects of climate change, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said Friday.

It's the first time in recorded history that the planet was above a hoped-for limit to warming for an entire year.

Earth recorded its hottest year ever in 2024, with such a big jump that the planet temporarily passed a major climate threshold, several weather monitoring agencies announced Friday. Last year's global average temperature easily passed 2023's record heat and kept pushing even higher.