The year that is now ending was the hottest in almost two centuries and global warming is accelerating, leaving “uncertainties about the future”, three scientists explain to Expresso.

Although in Portugal we enter the new year under rain and, in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, rain and snow chill the days and nights, there is no doubt that 2023 will go down in history as the hottest year in the last 174 years. And probably from the last 125 thousand years. At least until now.

Only between June and November were unprecedented records broken and, in the final calculations, the global average thermometer rose 1.4°C compared to the average recorded in 1850. However, we cannot say that we are 0.1ºC away from the target 1.5 °C, defined as the limit to try to stop the most tragic consequences of the climate crisis. For now, we are at 0.3º based on physical-mathematical models for periods of 30 years, which places the average global warming 1.2 °C above that of the pre-industrial era, according to data from the European Copernicus program. And it is this value that counts in the accounts.

Source: “Expresso”​