Heading for record heat in 2024

The European climate change agency Copernicus has announced that by all indications so far, 2024 will be the hottest year on the planet since records have been kept.

If the projection is correct, 2024 will succeed 2023 as the warmest year on record.

Back-to-back years of record temperatures is not ideal by any stretch. To add to the alarming picture, the five years with the highest global temperatures all occurred after 2016. The order of peak heat was 2023, 2016, 2020, 2019 and 2017. Already in 2023, the average temperature has increased 1.48 degrees Celsius beyond pre-industrial levels from the 19th century - almost reaching the Paris Conference's goal of limiting the rise to 1.5C, proving that existing climate change policies have failed.

Greece has been enveloped in scorching heat since early summer. June in particular was extremely hot in many parts of the...