Last year was the hottest year on record. Though this phrase is a tune all too familiar by now. The last ten years have consecutively broken the record for hottest year. This goes to show that collective climate action is still lacking, as the effects of a warming globe become more drastic with each year that passes.
2024 was the first year when global temperatures reached 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, the temperature threshold which States are asked to take action to avoid under the COP 21 Paris Agreement. Paris was 10 years ago and is “a binding agreement [that] brings all nations together to combat climate change.” Unfortunately, a consistent trend in public international law is the lack of funding and serious commitment to initiatives, no matter their urgency.
This international irresponsibility has accelerated the speed at which climate change is occurring, leading to extreme weather events witnessed by the planet within the last year. In 2024, the world experienced widespread droughts, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, tropical storms, and wildfires all at once. Southern Spain was ravaged by the DANA with extreme rainfall, while Italy, its Mediterranean companion, experienced drought. Brazil saw extreme rainfall, while the Amazon was going through a drought, with the Brazilian Amazon facing more wildfires than any other year since 2005.
It is abnormal to see places experiencing such extremes within such a short time frame. Extreme weather events used to be largely rare and spread out across time until recent times. For example, before climate change, heatwaves were a one in 100-year event in West Africa. This year, they are a one in 10-year event. And, if the globe reaches 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, they will become a one in two-year event for the region (World Weather Attribution). This trend prediction does not only apply to West African heatwaves; because of global warming, there is a large probability of increased repetition of extreme weather events of all kinds.
To give an idea of what this would look like, 2024 saw extreme rainfall in Spain, Brazil, Eastern Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi), Northern and Central Africa (Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon), UAE and Oman, Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India, Nepal, and the Philippines) – a lengthy list to say the least. As World Weather Attribution put it in their end of year report, “Record-breaking global temperatures in 2024 translated to record-breaking downpours.” This included the greatest levels of downpour in Central Europe and Northern Africa since 1994.
This past year also included other water-related extreme weather events, such as Hurricanes Helena and Milton in the United States and the previously mentioned DANA in Spain. Also, the Philippines underwent an intense typhoon season, with six different cyclones hitting the country within the span of a month. Such events affected millions in many different ways: Milton caused the evacuation of 5.5 million people as it grew from a category 1 hurricane to category 5 within less than 24 hours. The typhoon season in the Philippines affected an estimated 13 million people, displacing hundreds of thousands. Additionally, the death toll of these events sums to multiple hundreds of people.
Likewise, according to World Weather Attribution, heatwaves are “the deadliest type of extreme weather… In Europe alone, more than 68,000 deaths have been linked to extreme heat during the summer of 2022, and a recent study estimated the additional heat added by climate change is responsible for more than half of the death toll.” Heatwaves have occurred all over the world in the last year: Europe, West Africa, North and Central America, and Asia. However, the deaths caused by heat exposure are difficult to track and hence are often underreported. According to Down To Earth, in India, for example, the government reported 360 heatstroke deaths, while an independent report named 733 deaths.
These extreme weather events pose a threat to human life and quality of life. Climate change-driven events are causing the displacement and deaths of countless people: “It’s likely the total number of people killed in extreme weather events intensified by climate change this year is in the tens, or hundreds of thousands” (World Weather Attribution).
A majority of these events are predicted to worsen in the coming year(s), and this will only be exacerbated with the continuation of climate change in its many forms: pollution of the oceans and of land, air pollution with greenhouse gases, unsustainable consumption and investment patterns, and much more. It is evident that no one can get out of this unscathed. It is humanity’s collective responsibility to take care of one another.
While there is a long road ahead, it is important to give recognition to the work that has been done thus far and to thank the scientists, activists, leaders, and citizens who have been doing all that is within their own capacity to save the planet and, in turn, humanity.
There are regrettably those who are falling short of their abilities; primarily governments who prefer to protect unsustainable growth mechanisms over the protection of the environment and long-term growth goals. While the Paris Agreement is binding, much of its wording is ambiguous enough that States have few harsh obligations to truly meet. In order for many States to ratify international law, it is preferable (to them) that it be flexible. Frankly, climate action doesn’t merit flexibility in the direction of doing less, only in that of acting more.
This year countries met in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the COP 29. There they discussed and came to agreements on financial goals and the carbon market, but failed to progress well in the aspect of adaptation to climate change. This is now a pressing matter for COP 30 in Brazil this year. It is a crucially pressing matter as a strong combination of mitigation measures and adaptation measures for climate change are what will save both the environment and people’s lives.
In 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was asked to issue an advisory opinion on States’ obligations with respect to climate change. This began as a student initiative in Vanuatu, and grew into a movement of international cooperation between many different actors. Over 80 States sent written submissions to help guide the ICJ’s final decision in March 2024. The initiative is now led by the State of Vanuatu. The court’s decision will greatly impact international environmental law and human rights law, hopefully raising the threshold of state obligations for tackling climate change, at least for the time being.
In reflection of 2024, it is clear that 2025 must be a year of conscious choices by governments and citizens, and of promoting mutuality across the world. It is long overdue for everyone to act in solidarity and urgency when it comes to climate change. Without collective action, it is certainly impossible to prevent the future death, displacement, and overarching suffering of millions, if not billions of people eventually.
Featured image provided by World Weather Attribution.