2020 joins top spot for hottest year ever

(CNS): As expected, 2020 has been officially confirmed as a record-breaking year for global temperatures. Last year equalled the temperature reached in 2016 around the world to become the joint hottest year since man started keeping track. It was also the hottest year ever in Europe. According to data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2020 marked the end of the warmest decade on record as its hottest of the period. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) also reported that CO₂ levels rose at a rate of approximately 2.3 ppm in 2020, despite the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The worrying report said that at 0.6°C warmer than the standard 1981-2010 reference period and around 1.25°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period globally, the largest temperature deviation was concentrated over the Arctic and northern Siberia, reaching more than 6°C above average.

The year was also plagued with wildfires which released a record amount of 244 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, over a third more than the 2019 record. During the second half of the year, Arctic sea ice was significantly lower than average for the time of the year, with July and October seeing the lowest sea ice extent on record for the respective months.

Vincent-Henri Peuch, Director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), said that even though carbon dioxide concentrations rose slightly less in 2020 than they had the year before, this was no cause for complacency.

“Until the net global emissions reduce to zero, CO₂ will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere and drive further climate change,” he said, adding that the reduction of around 7% of general emissions because of COVID lockdowns did not necessarily help.

“To what extent this was a factor in the lower total increase is debatable though, as the variations in global growth rate are dominated by natural processes. We must continue efforts to decrease CO₂ net emissions to reduce the risk of climate-related change,” he warned.