BBC Breakfast’s Matt Taylor issues worrying breaking news. (Image: BBC)
star Matt Taylor issued some worrying breaking news on Friday morning. The meteorologist, who also presents the weather for Today programme, took to /X to share the concerning update.
He wrote: “BREAKING! 2024 was globally the hottest on record, with increase in average temperatures exceeding the 1.5C warning limit.”
Matt, 48, then linked to some of the extreme weather events around the world over the last year, including a record-breaking hurricane season, devastating wildfires and widespread flooding.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said human-caused climate change was the primary driver for record temperatures, while other factors such as the Pacific Ocean’s “El Nino” weather phenomenon, which raises global temperatures, also had an effect.
Climate experts said a single year with average temperatures of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels did not mean the world had reached that level of global warming, though they issued warnings about how close it now was.
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Matt Taylor shared the concerning update on Twitter/X. (Image: Twitter/X)
One expert said the record heat should be a “reality check” with a year of extreme weather events showing how dangerous life with 1.5C of warming was.
According to the Copernicus analysis, temperatures were an estimated 1.6C above the pre-industrial level of 1850-1900, and 0.12C above 2023 – which was the previous hottest year on record.
The analysis also highlights that globally, each of the past 10 years were one of the warmest 10 years on record.
In response to the announcement, Dr Friederike Otto, senior lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, said: “This record needs to be a reality check.
“The climate is heating to levels we’ve spent years trying to avoid because countries are still burning huge amounts of oil, gas and coal.
“A year of extreme weather showed just how dangerous life is at 1.5C. The Valencia floods, US hurricanes, Philippines typhoons and Amazon drought are just four disasters last year that were worsened by climate change. There are many, many more.”
UK climate minister Kerry McCarthy said: “Breaching the 1.5C target sends a clear signal: there is much more work to be done to keep 1.5C within reach and prevent climate catastrophe.
“The scale of the challenge is huge, but through collective action we can deliver change at the scale and pace required.”
She added: “Not only is this crucial for our planet, it is the economic opportunity of the 21st century. Through our clean energy superpower mission this government is showing what can be done – tackling the climate crisis while creating new jobs, delivering energy security and attracting new investment into the UK.”