The planet is hurtling towards yet another temperature record, with data from the Met Office and the Copernicus Climate Change Service confirming that 2024 is on track to surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record. Global average temperatures are now consistently more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, a threshold scientists warned would bring escalating climate disasters.
For the UK, this means a summer of extremes. The government has activated COBRA meetings to coordinate emergency responses to heatwaves, wildfires, and flash floods. Heat-health alerts are already in place for parts of England, with temperatures forecast to exceed 35°C in the southeast next week. The Environment Agency is on high alert for flooding from intense rainstorms that could overwhelm drainage systems.
This is not a one-off event. The physics is simple: greenhouse gases trap heat, and we have been adding them to the atmosphere at an accelerating rate. Carbon dioxide concentrations are now at 420 parts per million, levels not seen in at least 3 million years when the Arctic was ice-free and sea levels were metres higher. Every tenth of a degree of warming brings more energy into the climate system, intensifying weather extremes.
The UK's Climate Change Committee has warned that the country is ill-prepared for the coming changes. Infrastructure, from railways to green spaces and health services, is under strain. Hospitals are bracing for heat-related admissions, and energy grids are planning for spikes in demand as air conditioning use rises. Yet these are short-term fixes for a long-term crisis.
What should concern every citizen is the feedback loops now in play. As ice sheets melt, they reduce Earth's reflectivity, causing more sunlight to be absorbed. Forests burned in wildfires release stored carbon, accelerating warming. Melting permafrost thaws ancient organic matter that decomposes into methane, a potent greenhouse gas. These are not hypotheticals; they are happening now.
The question is no longer whether we can prevent climate change but how fast we can adapt and decarbonise. The UK's target of net-zero emissions by 2050 is achievable but requires immediate, massive investment in renewable energy, electrification of transport and heating, and carbon capture technologies. The government's recent approval of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea is a step in the wrong direction, contradicting its own climate goals.
This is a moment for calm urgency. The science is clear: every tonne of CO2 we avoid emitting reduces future suffering. The tools exist. The question is political will. As I have said before, the atmosphere does not negotiate. It simply responds to the concentration of greenhouse gases. We are conducting an uncontrolled experiment on the only planet we have. The results are now coming in.
