Scientists confirm 2024 was hottest year on record

Climate Focus

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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Today's newsletter examines the United States climate policy rollbacks despite scientists confirming that 2024 was the first full year of global temperatures exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

The milestone was confirmed by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

C3S said climate change is pushing the planet's temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans.

"The trajectory is just incredible," C3S director Carlo Buontempo told Reuters, describing how every month in 2024 was the warmest or second-warmest for that month since records began.

The WMO collated findings of meteorological observatories in Britain, China, the EU and the U.S., spokesperson Clare Nullis said.

"We saw extraordinary land and sea surface temperatures, extraordinary ocean heat, accompanied by very extreme weather affecting many countries around the world, destroying lives, livelihoods, hopes and dreams," she added.

Despite record high temperatures and more extreme weather events across the planet last year, the policy response by governments still remains too slow to meet the world's near 10-year-old goal of limiting global warming, writes Reuters sustainable finance editor Simon Jessop.

U.S. political backlash over environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) policies under incoming president Donald Trump means that gap could widen even if, in many cases, the economics, companies' near-term emissions reduction pledges and the rising costs of climate events keep the broad direction unchanged.

"In the U.S., we can expect a more conservative approach, with investors prioritising long-term risk-adjusted returns to avoid potential political or reputational risks," said Tom Willman, Regulatory Lead at sustainability tech firm Clarity AI.

But sustainable finance experts still see a growing need for green energy in spite of the potential for Trump to water down some ESG initiatives.

Charles French, co-chief investment officer at Impax Asset Management, said despite Trump's negative view on climate change – he has called it a hoax – companies in sectors from healthcare and industrials were eyeing climate tech solutions to cut costs.

"The era of tech-inspired transformation is not coming to an end. In many areas, it's just getting started," he said.

Wildfires raging across Los Angeles, including the record-breaking Palisades and Eaton fires, have killed at least 10 people, destroyed nearly 10,000 structures, and burned over 34,000 acres as dry winds continue to fuel the devastation.

Reuters photographers and videographers have been on the ground in LA capturing visuals that bring home the scale of fires. Many are veterans who have covered multiple wildfires, but say they have never witnessed anything like this. Click here for the full image-driven feature.

Sun rises over the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of west LA after devastating wildfires in the LA area forced people to evacuate, in California, U.S. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona

China has almost doubled its tally of injured in Tibet's deadly earthquake as rescuers widened a search on Friday for survivors in a remote county near the foothills of the Himalayas, despite dwindling hopes for survival. It is not yet clear how many are still missing, but more than three days later, experts say those trapped under the rubble are likely to have died of hypothermia.

Approximately 2,400 metric tons of oil products spilled into the sea, Russian investigators said last week, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin called "one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in years".

The oil leaked from two ageing tankers after they were hit by a storm on Dec. 15 in the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea. One sank and the other ran aground.

Global climate efforts could suffer if President-elect Trump withdraws the U.S., the world's second-largest polluter, from the Paris Agreement, warned the EU climate chief. Sources say his team has prepared executive orders to exit the treaty. Click here for the full Reuters story.

The trend of financial institutions exiting climate coalition groups continues after all the major U.S. banks left the Net Zero Banking Alliance. This time, BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, said it will leave the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, the latest Wall Street firm to depart an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians.

Investigation: Context, formerly the Thomson Reuters Foundation, spent months digging through supply chain data and conducting interviews to uncover how Zara's parent company, Inditex, heavily increased its use of costly, polluting air transport to ship clothes from factories to Europe and global stores. Click here or the image for the full video.

Hurricanes, storms, floods and other natural disasters caused an estimated $140 billion in insured losses in 2024, up from 2023 and one of the costliest years on record, German multinational insurer Munich Re said.

"Climate change is showing its claws" as global temperatures continue to rise, contributing to more frequent and extreme weather events, it said.

That's the percentage of wind power provided in Europe last year of the electricity consumed. However, the capacity built during the year was less than half of what is needed to meet the European Union's 2030 energy and climate targets, industry group WindEurope said.

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