2024 is officially the warmest year on record

As the Copernicus Climate Change Service officially confirms that 2024 was the warmest year on record globally, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) calls for leaders to respond with unprecedented climate action in 2025, Report informs, referring to WWF.

The Copernicus data also confirmed that 2024 was the first calendar year to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Passing this milestone for one single year is not the same as exceeding the 1.5°C temperature limit in the Paris Agreement, which is a longer-term average, but this is a deeply troubling step towards it.

Dr Stephen Cornelius, WWF Deputy Global Climate and Energy Lead, said: "The hottest year on record isn’t just a statistic, it's a warning. Soaring temperatures and extreme weather events are becoming our new normal. We need to act now. 2025 must be a year of action.

“We have to limit global temperatures to avoid worsening consequences of climate change, but the window to do this is rapidly closing. If we pass the 1.5°C threshold, then we will face the even greater challenges and costs of bringing temperatures back down. Every fraction of a degree of warming matters for people, nature and our future.”

Fernanda Carvalho, WWF Global Climate and Energy Policy Lead, said: “We need record increases in renewable energy generation, ecosystem restoration and finance for climate and nature in 2025. Only systemic change across the economy will prevent temperatures spiraling out of control. Countries must respond to this crisis by putting forward ambitious new national climate plans with emissions reductions targets that smash records for ambition.

“In the year we mark ten years since the historic Paris Agreement, it is high time we move from talk to concrete action around the world. For that, we will need unprecedented international collaboration. Climate change is an existential global problem that demands global solutions. Multilateralism remains the best and only solution to engage all countries in this vital mission. It must be strengthened this year.”

Atty. Gia Ibay, Head of the Climate and Energy Programme, WWF-Philippines, said: "Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is here, and those least responsible feel its consequences most acutely. The impact of a hotter climate on developing countries like the Philippines will be dire. The 2024 record-breaking typhoon season, with six consecutive storms in less than a month in the Philippines, revealed how climate change supercharges extreme weather.

Warmer seas intensify storms, hitting vulnerable communities already struggling with poverty. These events destroy homes, drain resources, disrupt economies, and deepen cycles of inequality and displacement. Urgent collective action is needed to prevent further suffering for the world's most vulnerable populations."