Global Temperature: Global temp briefly crosses 2-degree warming limit for first time

NEW DELHI: Global temperature briefly breached a critical threshold that scientists have warned could lead to catastrophic and irreversible consequences for Earth and its ecosystems. Data provided by, Samantha Burgess, a climate scientist, indicated that the global average temperature last Friday exceeded levels from before industrialization by more than 2 degrees Celsius, reports CNN.
Samantha Burgess is the deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, situated in Europe.

This brief breach of the threshold doesn’t imply a permanent state of sustained warming above 2 degrees. However, it indicates of a steadily increasing global temperature, pointing towards a future where the impacts of the climate crisis will become increasingly challenging, and in some cases, impossible to reverse.

Samantha Burgess, in a post said, “Our best estimate is that this was the first day when global temperature was more than 2°C above 1850-1900 (or pre-industrial) levels, at 2.06°C.”
Burgess stated that global temperatures on Friday averaged 1.17 degrees above 1991-2020 levels, marking it as the warmest November 17 on record. However, in comparison to pre-industrial times, before widespread human activities like burning fossil fuels altered the Earth’s natural climate, the temperature was 2.06 degrees warmer.
The breach of the 2-degree mark on Friday occurred just two weeks before the commencement of the UN COP28 climate conference in Dubai. During this conference, countries will assess their progress toward the Paris Climate Agreement’s commitment to limit global warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration to cap it at 1.5 degrees.