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Climate change led to nearly six extra weeks of dangerous heat worldwide over the past year, according to a new study from Climate Central and World Weather Attribution.
The report, published on Friday, found that climate change, which is mainly caused by emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, led to an extra 41 days of dangerous temperatures by 2024, which is likely to be the warmest year on record. The researchers calculated the extra days based on the hottest 10 percent of days over the previous three decades.
The countries affected by the additional days of extreme heat were disproportionately small island states whose contribution to climate change has been minimal. For example, Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands and 280 million residents, saw an additional 122 days of dangerous heat levels. However, the report also found that less affected countries such as the US and the UK experienced an extra three weeks of high temperatures as a result.
Climate change was a factor in millions of displacements and at least 3,700 deaths in 219 extreme weather events throughout the year.
Although an El Niño event also occurred this year that contributed to extreme weather in early 2024, the research determined that human-caused climate change played a larger role in these events.
The report comes weeks after a fierce debate began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where representatives of the island nation of Vanuatu asked the court to recognize climate change damage caused by wealthy, high-income nations emissions such as China and the United States.
“The outcome of these proceedings will reverberate through generations, determining the fate of nations like mine and the future of our planet,” Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change and the environment, said in his opening speech on December 2. Today we are on the front lines of a crisis we did not create, a crisis that threatens our very existence.”
