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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Oliver Milman

Global heating will pass 1.5C threshold this year, top ex-Nasa scientist says

a line of people amid wreckage from a storm
People line up to receive aid in Acapulco, Mexico, after Hurricane Otis, on 3 November 2023. Photograph: Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images

The internationally agreed threshold to prevent the Earth from spiraling into a new superheated era will be “passed for all practical purposes” during 2024, the man known as the godfather of climate science has warned.

James Hansen, the former Nasa scientist credited for alerting the world to the dangers of climate change in the 1980s, said that global heating caused by the burning of fossil fuels, amplified by the naturally reoccurring El Niño climatic event, will by May push temperatures to as much as 1.7C (3F) above the average experienced before industrialization.

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