19 March: "The climate crisis is the defining challenge that humanity faces." —Prof. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, in State of the Climate 2023.[1]
5 February: a study published in Nature Climate Change, based on 300 years of ocean mixed-layer temperature records preserved in sclerosponge skeletons, concluded that modern global warming began in the 1860s (over 80 years earlier than indicated by sea surface temperature records) and was already 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels by 2020—a figure 0.5°C higher than IPCC estimates.[3]
February (reported): a Copernicus Climate Change Service analysis indicated that from February 2023 through January 2024, the running average global average air temperature exceeded 1.5°C for the first time.[4] This single-year breach does not violate the 1.5°C long-term average agreed on in the 2015 Paris Agreement.[4]
13 February: a study published in Current Issues in Tourism concluded that U.S. average ski seasons (incl. snowmaking) decreased from 1960–1979 to 2000–2019 by between 5.5 and 7.1 days per season, with direct economic losses estimated at $252 million annually.[5]
18 March (reported): the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer analyzed NOAA data and concluded that the average global ocean surface temperature reached a record daily high in mid-March 2023, and remained at unprecedented high levels every day since.[6]
21 March: a study published in Communications Earth & Environment concluded that higher temperatures increase inflation persistently over twelve months in both higher- and lower-income countries, with inflation pressures largest at low latitudes and having strong seasonality at high latitudes.[7]
12 February: a study published by the nonprofit First Street Foundation reported that improvements in air quality brought about by environmental regulation are being partially reversed by a "climate penalty" caused by climate change, especially with increases in PM2.5 particulates caused by increased wildfires.[8]
28 February: a study published in Weather and Climate Dynamics statistically linked recent Arctic ice loss with warmer and drier weather in Europe, enabling "an enhanced predictability of European summer weather at least a winter in advance".[9]
5 March: in a non-unanimous vote, the IUGS's Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy voted against declaring the Anthropocene a new geological epoch.[10] The vote leaves open more informally classifying human impacts as a geological event that unfolds gradually over a long period.[10]
26 March: a study published in Nature concluded that under some circumstances, change in albedo (Earth's surface's reflection of sunlight back into space) resulting from planting more trees can cause a significant "albedo offset" that reduces the benefits of the trees' removal of carbon from the atmosphere.[11]
27 March: a study published in Nature concluded that accelerated melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica has decreased Earth's rotational velocity, affecting Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) adjustments and causing problems for computer networks that rely on UTC.[12]
2 January: the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S. began operation 15 miles from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, initially providing 5 MW from one wind turbine, but planning an eventual 62 turbines capable of powering 400,000 homes and businesses.[13]
18 January: the first successful test of a solar farm in space—collecting solar power from a photovoltaic cell and beaming energy down to Earth—constituted an early feasibility demonstration.[14]
April (reported): a new glass-ceramic material placed atop solar panels transforms ultraviolet light into visible light, effectively increasing the amount of usable light from the sun (the material passes visible light, as normal).[15]
Political, economic, legal, and cultural actions[edit]
8 February: climate scientist Michael E. Mann won a $1 million judgment for punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit filed in 2012 against bloggers who attacked his hockey stick graph of global temperature rise, one of the bloggers having called Mann's work "fraudulent".[16]
March (reported): website Realtor.com added property-specific tools describing individual properties' vulnerability to heat, wind, and air quality, publishing current risks and projected risks 30 years into the future.[17]
22 March: the Nauta provincial court (Peru) ruled that the Marañón River has "intrinsic" value and possesses the rights to exist, flow, and be free from pollution.[18] The ruling was the first time Peru has legally recognized "rights of nature".[18]
January (reported in TIME): The IEA has outlined that by 2030, we must triple our reliance on renewable sources of energy, double energy efficiency, significantly cut methane emissions, and increase electrification with existing technologies.[19]
4 February (reported): to reduce sea level rise caused by melting of Antarctica's Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, scientists proposed a "Seabed Curtain" 100 kilometres (62 mi) long, moored to and rising from the bed of the Amundsen Sea, designed to reduce the amount of warm ocean water that would melt the base of those glaciers.[20]
9 February: a global survey of almost 130,000 individuals whose results were published in Nature Climate Change found that 69% of respondents were willing to contribute 1% of their income to support action against climate change, 86% endorsed pro-climate social norms, and 89% demanded greater political action.[21] However, the world was said to be in a state of pluralistic ignorance, in which people underestimate the willingness of others to act.[21]
January: the World Economic Forum projected that, by 2050, directly and indirectly, climate change will cause 14.5 million deaths and $12.5 trillion in economic losses.[22]
13 February: a study published in Current Issues in Tourism projected that for the 2050s, U.S. ski seasons will shorten between 14–33 days (low emissions scenario) and 27 to 62 days (high emissions scenario), with direct economic losses of $657 million to 1.352 billion annually.[5]
5 March: a study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment projected that the first single occurrence (September; not year-round) of an ice-free Arctic "could occur in 2020–2030s under all emission trajectories and are likely to occur by 2050".[23]Daily ice-free conditions are expected approximately 4 years earlier on average.[23]
13 March: a study published in PLOS One projected that 13% of all current ski areas are projected to completely lose natural annual snow cover by 2100.[24]
^Hasler, Natalia; Williams, Christopher A.; Denney, Vanessa Carrasco; Ellis, Peter W.; et al. (26 March 2024). "Accounting for albedo change to identify climate-positive tree cover restoration". Nature. 15 (2275). doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46577-1.
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