Earth reaches level of warming climate scientists hoped to avoid

For the past eleven years, the planet has been consecutively warmer each year. It’s a trend that has climate scientists and policy makers worried.

In 2024, global temperatures reached 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial record, according to the World Meteorological Organization and the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

It’s the level of warming that those who work for climate solutions have been trying to avoid.

“Now the question is: What are we going to do next? What is the next goal going to be?” said Shannon Osaka, a climate reporter for The Washington Post.

Osaka wrote about extreme weather events linked to climate change, the consequences for slow-moving climate policy and Earth’s temperatures rapidly rising past a critical threshold for sustainable life.

“We don’t know where those tipping points are: They could be at 1.6 degrees [Celsius]; they could be at 2.5 degrees Celsius. It’s like a sort of terrifying dice roll.”

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.