2023: The Hottest Year 
on Record — February 2024

Disturbing news for the aviation industry and humanity: in 2023 the world’s global CO₂ emissions are estimated to have hit a new peak — 1.1% above the previous year and higher then pre-pandemic levels. 2023 was also the hottest year on record. Berkeley Earth (see chart) estimates that the combined land and sea temperature anomalies were 1.54°C (±0.06°) above pre-industrial averages.

This is above the aspiration in the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to less than 1.5°C. It may be an anomaly, but once we reach that temperature on a consistent basis, the science suggests that it could trigger tipping points from which climate change will be irreversible.