Many warming records were broken in 2023 along with climate disasters such as wildfires, cyclones, droughts, and floods. In this time, the focus of the public narrative – often with the participation of scientists – has often been on whether we crossed the ‘magical’ warming threshold of 1.5 degrees C. The best estimates, derived from data recorded by instruments, say the planet is just under this threshold.
But did we really cross the 1.5 degrees C threshold in 2023?
Before we discuss the answer, let’s remember that 1.5 degrees C is not a scientific threshold. It became enshrined in the Paris Agreement after intense negotiations by member-countries of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). But it’s not a round number by accident: it comes from a figure – 2 degrees C – European politicians found easier to aim at in the 1990s.
