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FOR THE FIRST time, average global temperatures across a full calendar year were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels – a sign of escalating climate change.
The world’s major climate-monitoring scientific bodies all agree that 2024 brought new heights of global warming and climate change impacts that caused “misery for millions”.
Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has confirmed this morning that 2024 was the hottest year of modern records and the first calendar year in which the average global temperature exceeded pre-industrial temperatures by 1.5 degrees.
It does not yet amount to a breach of the Paris Agreement – which strives to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius – as that is measures over a longer period of time.
However, it is still a jarring reminder of how the world is moving ever-more dangerously close to climate breakdown.
“Each year in the last decade is one of the ten warmest on record. We are now teetering on the edge of passing the 1.5ºC level defined in the Paris Agreement and the average of the last two years is already above this level,” said Samantha Burgess, the service’s strategic lead for climate.
“These high global temperatures, coupled with record global atmospheric water vapour levels in 2024, meant unprecedented heatwaves and heavy rainfall events, causing misery for millions of people,” she said.
2024 was the hottest year since modern records began in 1850. It was the warmest year that most continents have experienced, including Europe, and the winter, spring and summer of 2024 each saw record-high average temperatures for their respective times of year.
A new record high daily global average temperature of of 17.16 degrees Celsius was reached on 22 July 2024.
Additionally, every month from January to June 2024 was the warmest each respective month has been compared to any previous year on record.
Every month from July to December was each the second-warmest, after 2023, for the time of year – except for August 2024, which was tied with August 2023.
In Europe, the average temperature in 2024 was 1.47 degrees higher than it was between 1991 and 2020, and 0.28 degrees warmer than the previous record set in 2020. Spring and summer last year were both Europe’s warmest on record.
Ocean temperatures also reached new heights, while sea ice around Antarctica plunged to record low and near-record low levels for much of the year.
“All of the internationally produced global temperature datasets show that 2024 was the hottest year since records began in 1850,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
“Humanity is in charge of its own destiny but how we respond to the climate challenge should be based on evidence. The future is in our hands – swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate,” he said.
Despite pleas from scientists and climate activists for countries to take urgent action to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases that are trapping heat inside the atmosphere, carbon dioxide and methane concentrations in 2024 were both higher than the year before.
As a result of human-caused climate change, extreme weather events were seen globally in 2024, according to the Copernicus report.
These ranged from severe storms and floods to heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense, posing a significant risk to people around the world.
Warmer atmospheres can hold more moisture, and the total amount of water vapour in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2024.
“This abundant supply of moisture amplified the potential for extreme rainfall events. In addition, combined with high sea surface temperatures, it contributed to the development of major storms, including tropical cyclones,” the Copernicus report said.
It also said that in 2024, much of the globe experienced more days than average with strong levels of heat stress, with some regions experiencing higher levels of ‘extreme’ heat stress than previous years.
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my dog is so friendly, but not a hope would I lave him with a child!! very sad news :(
Some people are absolutely certain their dog would never harm a child or baby, but I’d never take the chance. Awful story.
I feel the same about our dog…..I was in the park with him the other day and two small kids started chasing him…..now if my dog had gotten frightened and bit one of them my dog would be put down…..it’s not right. But this story seems different, a man was arrested so it seems there’s more to it.
“lave” ????
sorry nial I meant to say hahajdjkjeb
@mick. Are you not supposed to have your dog on a leash??
Hi was. The dog was with me but the kids wouldn’t stop pestering him.
@ mick. A couple of children chasing your dog while it was on a lead mmmmm! Must have been a very long lead!
I’ve had my dogs out walking, and small kids have run right up and started grabbing and pulling at the dogs. I have to pull my dogs away and give out to the kids. Parents should teach their children never to approach a dog they don’t know. I know my bichons are harmless, but any dog can snap.
why destroy the dog…
If your dog was in a public park then under the control of dogs act he should be under effective control and on a lead!
Actually it depends on the park. Only in parks are there any requirement to keep your dog on a lead, and that’s entirely based on the local council’s bye-laws. Most parks will have signs telling you that in face it’s perfectly okay to have your dog off the lead within a certain amount of time after opening and before closing. Outside of parks, aside from listed breeds who must be muzzled and on a max. 1m lead, there’s absolutely no legal requirement to keep your dog on a lead, only that it be under your control. In other words, the people who let their dogs out to roam the neighbourhood are breaking the law, however, walking your dog off-lead is perfectly fine. Back to parks, since bye-laws are at the discretion of their enforcers (think the ban on food & drink on Dublin Bus which some drivers use to prohibit coffee, but others don’t), park rangers can choose to ignore them. After asking the rangers in Stephen’s Green, I was allowed to let my dog off the lead, despite the fact that the rules of that park don’t allow for dogs to be off-lead at any time.
He was , can’t you read?
Too many people assume because they’re so small and cute that the toy breeds and ratters are safer. Many of the larger breeds have had aggressive behaviour bred out of them specifically because they can inflict more damage if they attack, but since it wasn’t of such a concern for the smaller breeds, breeders didn’t focus on it. Not even taking into account that aggression was specifically bred into many smaller breeds for the purpose of using them as ratters, and for flushing out animal dens.
Owners tend to turn a blind eye to behaviours that they’d address in larger dogs, because a cute little doggy mouthing your hand doesn’t hurt as much as a big one. Anyone with any exposure to dogs will recognise that the biggest behaviour problems exist in the smaller breeds. My medium-sized collie cross constantly gets chased by little yapping dogs in the local park whose owners make no effort whatsoever to keep them under control, while he does his best to just ignore them, and has never turned on them aggressively.
I knew a person who was an animal behaviour professional who considered there was absolutely nothing wrong with her Yorkies biting people. Listed breeds, and muzzling laws are next to useless. The responsibility for a dog’s behaviour needs to be placed squarely on the owners.
That animal behaviour professional sounds like a complete moron. I’d seriously question her credentials.
I’ve also met a qualified dog trainer that still swears by dominance theory.
@Bryan I too have a small terrier breed of dog with what I believed was ‘little dog, big dog syndrome’, an animal psychologist (don’t ask) explained that most dogs don’t see other dogs as being big or small, they don’t judge them in human terms. If a dog feels the need to be assertive, protect his territory or whatever he will simply see other dogs he meets as dogs, not big, small, muscular, skinny, just dogs and if a dog is feeling assertive even a small terrier will square up to a large German shepherd. The trick is to recognise when and why your dog is being assertive and to do something about it. That’s a work in progress.
Like everyone else I know my dogs limitations and his failings, I would never leave him with a child and people often ask does he bite, when I reply yes (he never has) they look shocked. He’s a dog, why did they ask the bloody question if they didn’t want to hear an honest answer, he MAY bite.
Never said anything about Napoleon Complex coz I agree it’s utter nonsense. But, it is true that many of the smaller breeds have aggressive behaviour that was either left in them or specifically bred into them, while many of the larger ones that people erroneously assume are more dangerous had them intentionally bred out. Think Golden Retriever.
Totally agree. I’ve always had bigger dogs around – labradors and mixes mostly. I’ve been lucky to have had 2 of the most gentle, empathetic dogs you could ever ask for. Used to walk my last lab in the park and without fail, small dogs would go ape at her, which made her do the same in retaliation. The same dog was subject to young children pulling at her coat and she just got up and walked away. I’ve never liked smaller breeds because of the snappy temperaments… that and the yapping! I want a dog that can BARK!!!
@ Bryan. I take in abandoned and unwanted Yorkshire Terriers.I have seen the good and the bad . I had a few that were nippy and had to rehabilitate them before rehoming . In my experience no agression is bred into any dog……. it is also my experience that nippy dogs come from bad owners. Its time people started blaming the other end of the leash
Why is everyone massively interpreting what I wrote. To repeat one final time: Yes, characteristics such as aggression can be bred into breeds of dogs, and yes they are more prevalent in smaller breeds due to breeders not seeing the need to weed them out, or in the case of ratters, and baiting dogs, intentionally introduced. This does not mean that every small dog will have an aggressive temperament, just as not every retriever will have a playful one, but the odds are in your favour. Yes, I also agreed that the onus lies on the owner, and this is further exasperated with smaller dogs as many people don’t view negative and aggressive behaviours in smaller dogs as dangerous or disruptive, therefore they aren’t as inclined to work at addressing them.
Both of these factors together mean that the majority of dogs with negative behaviours out there tend to be of the smaller breeds. Added to that the fact that parents and children are less likely to be afraid of smaller dogs, and incidents of them biting are also more prevalent, however due to their size it rarely leads to significant injury, a complaint, the dog being put down, or a news article.
it’s a pity they can’t take the person minding the child out and have them destroyed. leaving a 3 week old child in a room with an animal. fookin gobshoots.
no such thing as a bad dog. Just bad owners.
Not true. We have always had dogs and reared them properly. Then we took in a young jack russell and she was an arsehole from the beginning. We tried to train her, and even got in a professional with no joy. The day she went for my sister was the day we realised there was no hope and we had to get rid of her. I love dogs, but I hated that dog. She was simply a bad dog.
@Tara… Blame the breeder of the dog who mire than likely inbred the dog
One of those terrible things that give you a lump in your throat, God love the poor little mite and the Family…
I have 2 large dogs, they love people and I trust them BUT I would never let them near a baby, ever
This shows no dog can be trusted and a poor child paid his life for it! Breed specific laws also show how ineffective they are, they don’t prevent irresponsible owners !
i have to laugh at the amount of fools and muppets in this country when they see a big dog alarm bells go of and they shield their child when walking by and if its a small dog they do not shield them…muppets .. a dog is a dog end of
Maybe the dog was jealous of the new member of the family getting all the attention. Who knows, but the outcome is dreadful. So sorry for their loss.
Dogs that have been in a child free home can become very jealous when babies arrive, never ever leave a baby/ child with ANY dog, no matter how friendly the dog is. Poor wee baby. RIP .
Why would a dog be let in the house near a three week old baby in first place. There are too many of theses incidents happening in uk i dont understand how dog owners let the dog into the same house as their newborn baby never mind close enough to bite the poor litle baby he should have been prptected better by his parent s and the owner of the dog should be jailed .
Too many unknowns. It was the baby’s home, but no mention of whether it was the family’s dog or not. No mention of whether the man arrested was the baby’s father or the dog’s owner. Why would police be patrolling to reassure locals if it was a case of the family dog attacking their baby? Waiting on an update.
And it’s perfectly fine to have a dog in the same house as even a newborn, but any self-respecting owner would know to never leave them alone together. Same goes for cats.
Especially cats. they are very dangerious around babies and pregnante women.
that is untrue
you should never trust any dog even the most placid of dogs can turn nasty ,you should never leave a baby or a child alone with a dog
kids need to be born in to a home before dogs arrive
Or dogs need to not be given s chance to kill them …
@Shane Kinsella
That is a complete old wives tale, cats are not at all dangerous around pregnant women-you may be thinking of the over exaggerated risk of toxoplasmosis. This is much more commonly contracted from undercooked meat and the vast majority of adults have already been exposed before becoming pregnant.
Cats are much much safer around babies than dogs, and there have been many documented instances of cats alerting people to babies who were ill or in danger. Recently a cat in Northern Russia saved an abandoned baby by curling around it and keeping it warm all night and yowling for help whenever it heard humans passing.
There is much too much disinformation spread about cats that contributes hugely to animal cruelty and neglect, and it is actually pretty irresponsible to add to that.
The danger of cats around babies is very different than that posed by dogs but a very real one. There have been many cases of babies suffocated by over-protective/cuddle seeking cats that effectively curl up on said baby. With regards pregnant women, you’re right, the toxoplasmosis threat is absurdly blown out of proportion. However, there have been studies done showing the development of cat allergies in pregnant women, even ones who have had cats for years. Not dangerous, but might explain where the idea that they’re dangerous for pregnant women stems from.
No matter how loyal, friendly, gentle etc a person thinks their dog is nobody can without a doubt say 100% that their dog will never bite, provoked or not. Look up a documentary called ” there’s a wolf in my sitting room”. The connections and behavioural traits between domestic dogs and wolfs/wild dogs that still exist to this day is unreal.
Ban all dogs.
Ban all cars then.
Ban everything!
Banki moon ?
Ban all wolves
I have an 8 yr cocker spaniel & never let her off the lead she hates other dogs, cats, birds, ok with people. This is thanks to her previous owner as she is rescued. We have her nearly 2 yrs
what kind of terrier brits love the bulldog type
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