The world is getting hotter faster - its pace nearly doubled in the past decade

"Because the past three years have shattered temperature records, researchers have been exploring whether global warming is accelerating, and if so, why. Many scientists agree that the rate at which it is increasing has picked up. This is mainly because of a reduction in air pollution following the introduction of fuel regulations for international shipping (which has resulted in fewer pollutant particles that reflect sunlight into space and seed insulating clouds)."

"Rahmstorf and Grant Foster, a statistician in Orono, Maine, say they have the strongest evidence yet that global warming has sped up, to a rate of around 0.35°C per decade. That's faster than some other estimates. But, the pair say their analysis captures a more accurate picture because of the way it accounts for and removes the effects of natural factors, such as weather events and volcanic eruptions, that cause climate fluctuations."

"The analysis removes the impact of the powerful El Niño weather phenomenon that contributed to record-high global temperatures in 2023 and 2024. Even with that subtracted from the data, the acceleration of warming is clear. Their research took five of the most widely used global temperature data sets into consideration, including one produced by NASA."

Recent research confirms that global warming has accelerated significantly since 2015, with the current rate approximately double that of the 1970s. Climate scientists attribute this acceleration mainly to reduced air pollution following international shipping fuel regulations, which means fewer particles reflect sunlight back to space. A new study by Stefan Rahmstorf and Grant Foster analyzed five major global temperature datasets and found the warming rate is around 0.35°C per decade. Their analysis accounts for natural climate fluctuations like El Niño events and volcanic eruptions, providing a more accurate picture of human-caused warming. Even after removing the effects of the powerful El Niño phenomenon that contributed to record temperatures in 2023-2024, the acceleration remains evident.

Read at Nature