2024 in climate change

This article documents events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate change—during the year 2024.

Summaries

 * 19 March: "The climate crisis is the defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis, as witnessed by growing food insecurity and population displacement, and biodiversity loss." —Prof. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, in State of the Climate 2023.

Measurements and statistics

 * 5 February: a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proposed adding a "Category 6" to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale to adequately convey storms' risk to the public, the researchers noting a number of storms have already achieved that intensity.
 * 5 February: a study published in Nature Climate Change, based on 300 years of ocean mixed-layer temperature records preserved in sclerosponge skeletons, concluded that modern global warming began in the 1860s (over 80 years earlier than indicated by sea surface temperature records) and was already 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels by 2020—a figure 0.5°C higher than IPCC estimates.
 * February (reported): a Copernicus Climate Change Service analysis indicated that from February 2023 through January 2024, the running average global average air temperature exceeded 1.5°C for the first time. This single-year breach does not violate the 1.5°C long-term average agreed on in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
 * 13 February: a study published in Current Issues in Tourism concluded that U.S. average ski seasons (incl. snowmaking) decreased from 1960–1979 to 2000–2019 by between 5.5 and 7.1 days per season, with direct economic losses estimated at $252 million annually.
 * 18 March (reported): the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer analyzed NOAA data and concluded that the average global ocean surface temperature reached a record daily high in mid-March 2023, and remained at unprecedented high levels every day since.
 * 21 March: a study published in Communications Earth & Environment concluded that higher temperatures increase inflation persistently over twelve months in both higher- and lower-income countries, with inflation pressures largest at low latitudes and having strong seasonality at high latitudes.
 * 8 May (reported): Ember reported that for the first time, renewable energy generated a 30% of global electricity in 2023.
 * 28 May: a study published by Climate Central, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and World Weather Attribution concluded that over the preceding twelve months, human-caused climate change caused a worldwide average of 26 additional days of extreme heat.
 * 11 June: a study published in Earth System Science Data estimated that total annual anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions increased 40% from 1980 to 2020, exceeding projected levels under all scenarios in the CMIP6 model.
 * 1 July (reported): Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 storm on record in the Atlantic, broke records for rapid intensification (65 mph in 24 hours), overall strength, and location for June.
 * 9 July (reported): for the first time, in each month in a 12-month period (through June 2024), Earth’s average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial baseline.

Natural events and phenomena

 * January: a study published in Annual Review of Marine Science reported that sea level rise's (SLR's) elevation of coastal water tables and shifting of their salinity landward—whose damage is "largely concealed and imperceptible"—makes potentially 1,546 coastal communities vulnerable to impacts decades before SLR-induced surface inundation.
 * 12 February: a study published by the nonprofit First Street Foundation reported that improvements in air quality brought about by environmental regulation are being partially reversed by a "climate penalty" caused by climate change, especially with increases in PM2.5 particulates caused by increased wildfires.
 * 28 February: a study published in Weather and Climate Dynamics statistically linked recent Arctic ice loss with warmer and drier weather in Europe, enabling "an enhanced predictability of European summer weather at least a winter in advance".
 * 5 March: in a non-unanimous vote, the IUGS's Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy voted against declaring the Anthropocene a new geological epoch. The vote leaves open more informally classifying human impacts as a geological event that unfolds gradually over a long period.
 * 25 March: a study published in Oecologia concluded that global warming, and increased intensity and frequency of precipitation and wildfires, have reduced pollen diversity, negatively affecting pollen richness in the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada.
 * 26 March: a study published in Nature concluded that under some circumstances, change in albedo (Earth's surface's reflection of sunlight back into space) resulting from planting more trees can cause a significant "albedo offset" that reduces the benefits of the trees' removal of carbon from the atmosphere.
 * 27 March: a study published in Nature concluded that accelerated melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica has decreased Earth's rotational velocity, affecting Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) adjustments and causing problems for computer networks that rely on UTC.
 * 8 April: recognizing that climate warming causes many meteorites to be lost from the surface by melting into the Antarctic ice sheet, a study in Nature Climate Change concluded that about 5,000 meteorites become inaccessible each year. About 24% are projected to be lost by 2050, potentially rising to ∼76% by 2100 under a high-emissions scenario. (Over 60% of meteorite finds on Earth originate from Antarctica.)
 * 11 April: a study published in Science noted that the effect of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) on future atmospheric carbon concentrations has been inadequately studied, and projected that soil acidification associated with nitrogen additions to terrestrial ecosystems will cause release into the atmosphere up to 23 billion tonnes of carbon over the next 30 years.
 * 11 May (reported): Venezuela became the first country in modern times to lose all of its glaciers, with the Humboldt Glacier having shrunk to the point that climate scientists reclassified it as an ice field.
 * 20 May: a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that rushing of seawater beneath grounded ice over considerable distances makes Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica, more vulnerable to melting than previously anticipated, which in turn increases projections of ice mass loss.
 * 6 June: a study published in Geophysical Research Letters concluded that, from 1980 through 2022, internal climate variability has enhanced Arctic warming but suppressed global warming, specifically involving warming in the Barents Sea and Kara Sea but cooling in the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean and Southern Ocean.
 * 13 June: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a notice that El Niño conditions had given way to ENSO-neutral conditions in the preceding month, ending a year-long period during which ocean and air temperatures reached into record-setting territory.
 * 15 July: noting that global warming-induced melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets has moved mass from polar regions toward the equator to significantly change Earth's shape and increase the length of days (LOD), a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that mass variations at the Earth’s surface lengthened days between 0.3–1.0ms/year in the 20th century, and accelerated to about 1.33ms/year in the 21st century. Under a high emissions scenario, LOD could increase to 2.62±0.79ms/year by 2100. LOD variations make precise timekeeping and space navigation more difficult.

Science and technology

 * 2 January: the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S. began operation 15 mi off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, initially providing 5 MW from one wind turbine, but planning an eventual 62 turbines capable of powering 400,000 homes and businesses.
 * 11 January: a study in Nature Cities presents results of a Riyadh-based trial of eight urban heat mitigation scenarios, finding large cooling effects with combinations that include reflective rooftop materials, irrigated greenery, and retrofitting.
 * 18 January: the first successful test of a solar farm in space—collecting solar power from a photovoltaic cell and beaming energy down to Earth—constituted an early feasibility demonstration.
 * February: an underwater generator operating on the principle of a kite travels a figure-8 pattern, moving faster than the current that drives it. A 1.2 MW utility-scale generator began providing power to the grid of the Faroe Islands.
 * 9 February: researchers use simulations to develop an early-warning signal for a potential collapse of the AMOC published in Science Advances and suggest it indicates the AMOC is "on route to tipping".
 * March: the largest inventory of methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas production, published in Nature, finds them to be largely concentrated and around three times the national government inventory estimate. Methane emissions from U.S. landfills are quantified in Science, with super-emitting point-sources accounting for almost 90% thereof.
 * March (reported inventions): a wind-powered electrodynamic screen (EDS) generates strong electric fields that repel dust and contaminants from the surface of solar panels, thereby increasing the panels' efficiency while avoiding manual cleaning. Researchers demonstrate simultaneous radiative cooling and solar power generation from the same area.
 * April (reported): a new glass-ceramic material placed atop solar panels transforms ultraviolet light into visible light, effectively increasing the amount of usable light from the sun (the material passes visible light, as normal).
 * April (reported): "rock flour"—rock that has been finely ground by glaciers and having large surface area per unit volume—has been found to enhance "chemical weathering" that removes carbon from air when spread across ground surfaces. A similar sequestration process, using concrete particles 1millimeter in diameter, has also been tested.
 * 2 April: the first outdoor test in the U.S. of marine cloud brightening technology—designed to brighten clouds and reflect sunlight back into space—tested whether a machine could consistently spray the right size salt aerosols through the open air outside of a lab. Local authorities halted the project the following month, citing concerns for public health and safety.
 * 3 April: a study published in Communications Earth & Environment reasoned that reductions of planet-cooling aerosol emissions due to air quality legislation will worsen Earth’s energy imbalance in addition to that caused by greenhouse gas emissions, concluding that accelerated global warming in this decade is to be expected.
 * 30 May: a study published in Communications Earth & Environment concluded that a 2020 International Maritime Organization fuel regulation to reduce sulfur emissions from international shipping reduced aerosol pollution along shipping lanes, but caused an increase in radiative forcing (global warming effect) that the researchers called an "inadvertent geoengineering termination shock with global impact".
 * 5 June: a study published in Nature introduced a "charge-sorbent" material having reactive hydroxide ions embedded in the pores of an activated carbon material, the ions removing from the air through bicarbonate formation. After being saturated with, the charge-sorbent material's properties can be renewed at low temperatures 90 to 100 C.
 * June (reported): a consortium of maritime experts proposed a fuel use reduction system in which ships coordinate non-conflicting arrival times at ports, to avoid the conventional "sail fast, then wait" practice by cruising at generally slower, fuel-saving speeds.
 * July (reported): warming climate is found to create glacial meltwater that washes away temporally ordered layers of trapped aerosols that researchers use as an historical record of environmental events. The Ice Memory Foundation plans to store additional ice cores in Antarctica in advance of this impending loss of data.

Political, economic, legal, and cultural actions

 * 8 February: climate scientist Michael E. Mann won a $1 million judgment for punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit filed in 2012 against bloggers who attacked his hockey stick graph of global temperature rise, one of the bloggers having called Mann's work "fraudulent".
 * 14 February: a study in Energy Research & Social Science reviews educational content of 18,400 universities worldwide, finding higher education is not transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy curricula, failing to meet the growing demand for a clean energy workforce.
 * March (reported): website Realtor.com added property-specific tools describing individual properties' vulnerability to heat, wind, and air quality, publishing current risks and projected risks 30 years into the future.


 * 22 March: the Nauta provincial court (Peru) ruled that the Marañón River has "intrinsic" value and possesses the rights to exist, flow, and be free from pollution. The ruling was the first time Peru has legally recognized "rights of nature".
 * 29 March: the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in Costa Rica, ruled that the government of Peru is liable for physical and mental harm to people caused by a metallurgical facility’s pollution, and ordered the government to provide free medical care and monetary compensation to victims.
 * 9 April: in its first ruling on climate litigation, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland's failure to adequately tackle the climate crisis breached 2000 women plaintiffs' human rights to effective protection from the "the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life".
 * 30 April: G7 ministers agreed to end unabated coal power plants by 2035, giving leeway for countries whose power plants are fitted with carbon capture technology.
 * 1 May: a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Juliana v. United States should be dismissed. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 by 21 young people claiming the U.S. government's energy policies violate their rights to be protected from climate change, more specifically, violating their rights to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution.
 * 21 May: in an advisory opinion that could provide precedent for other cases, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the oceans constitute marine pollution, and that countries have a legal obligation to monitor and reduce such emissions. The tribunal laid out specific requirements for environmental impact assessments.
 * 29 May: a study published in Cell Reports Sustainability estimated 2022 climate and health benefits of using wind and solar rather than fossil fuels to be $143/MWh (wind) and $100/MWh (solar). The study estimated $249 billion of climate and air quality benefits in the U.S. from 2019-2022.
 * 30 May: Vermont became the first U.S. state to enact a law, the Climate Superfund Act, requiring the state to charge fossil fuel companies for climate impacts of their fossil fuel emissions.
 * 2 June: Mexico elected as president, a climate scientist with a doctorate in energy engineering who had helped to write Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.
 * 5 June: UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all countries to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies, calling them "the Godfathers of climate chaos".
 * 20 June: the governor of the U.S. state of Hawaii announced a court-approved settlement in the constitutional climate case, Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation. In the settlement, the state acknowledges the constitutional right of Hawaii’s youth to a "life-sustaining climate", and commits the state to implement "transformative changes of Hawaii's transportation system to achieve the state's goal of net-negative emissions by 2045".

Mitigation goal statements

 * January (reported in TIME): The IEA has outlined that by 2030, we must triple our reliance on renewable sources of energy, double energy efficiency, significantly cut methane emissions, and increase electrification with existing technologies.

Adaptation goal statements

 * 4 February (reported): to reduce sea level rise caused by melting of Antarctica's Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, scientists proposed a "Seabed Curtain" 100 km long, moored to and rising from the bed of the Amundsen Sea, designed to reduce the amount of warm ocean water that would melt the base of those glaciers.

Consensus

 * 9 February: a global survey of almost 130,000 individuals whose results were published in Nature Climate Change found that 69% of respondents were willing to contribute 1% of their income to support action against climate change, 86% endorsed pro-climate social norms, and 89% demanded greater political action. However, the world was said to be in a state of pluralistic ignorance, in which people underestimate the willingness of others to act.

Projections

 * January: the World Economic Forum projected that, by 2050, directly and indirectly, climate change will cause 14.5 million deaths and $12.5 trillion in economic losses.
 * 13 February: a study published in Current Issues in Tourism projected that for the 2050s, U.S. ski seasons will shorten between 14–33 days (low emissions scenario) and 27 to 62 days (high emissions scenario), with direct economic losses of $657 million to 1.352 billion annually.
 * 5 March: a study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment projected that the first single occurrence (September; not year-round) of an ice-free Arctic "could occur in 2020–2030s under all emission trajectories and are likely to occur by 2050". Daily ice-free conditions are expected approximately 4 years earlier on average.
 * 6 March: a study in Nature finds U.S. land area of ~1200 km2 is threatened by coastal subsidence by 2050 due to sea level rise.
 * 13 March: a study published in PLOS One projected that 13% of all current ski areas are projected to completely lose natural annual snow cover by 2100.
 * 17 April: a study published in Nature forecast that by 2050, climate change will cause average incomes to fall by almost 20% and will cause $38 trillion of destruction each year.
 * 8 May (reported): in a poll by The Guardian of contactable lead authors or review editors of IPCC reports since 2018, 76.3% of respondents projected at least 2.5°C of global warming; only 5.79% forecast warming of 1.5°C or less.
 * March: a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health projected both "substantial losses" of habitat for venomous snakes by 2070, and migration of venomous species across international borders presenting new dangers to public health.
 * 14 May: a study published in Nature Communications forecast that by 2050, 177–246 million older adults will be exposed to dangerous acute heat, the most severe effects forecast in Asia and Africa which also have the lowest adaptive capacity.

Significant publications

 * WMO-No. 1347.
 * WMO-No. 1347.

Organizations

 * The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
 * World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
 * Climate indicators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency