'A wake-up call to the world': 2024 the warmest year ever recorded

A wildfire burns a house in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday amid a terrifying wave of wildfires across the US state of California. Photo: AP/Ethan Swope

The year 2024 was the warmest ever recorded and the first to exceed the key milestone of 1.5C above pre-industrial level, bringing “unprecedented” weather events and “causing misery for millions of people”.

The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service said that human-induced climate change was the primary driver of “extreme” air and sea surface temperatures along with the El Nino weather event last year.