The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the EU’s Earth Observation Programme, records that the year 2020 was globally tied with 2016 for the warmest year ever recorded, making this decade the warmest recorded as well. Along with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), it also reveals that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has continued rising.

2020 was 0.6°C warmer than the 1981-2010 reference period, with the Arctic and northern Siberia marking the largest deviation from this period of over 6°C above average. Furthermore, due to active wildfires in 2020 in this region, the fires released 244 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, over one-third more than 2019.

Overall, the Northern Hemisphere largely saw above average temperatures for the year, while parts of the Southern Hemisphere saw below average temperatures due to La Niña, a recurring weather phenomenon that has a cooling effect on global temperatures. Despite the cooling La Niña, 2020 matches 2016 as the record year while 2016 began with a warming El Niño event.

Satellite records further show that the global carbon dioxide concentrations reached a maximum of 413 ppm. The growth rate, however, was less than that of 2019 and the Global Carbon Project estimated that fossil CO₂ emissions reduced by around 7 per cent in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vincent-Henri Peuch, Director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said, however, “To what extent this was a factor in the lower total increase is debatable though, as the variations in global growth rate are dominated by natural processes. We must continue efforts to decrease CO₂ net emissions to reduce the risk of climate-related change”.

According to scientists, extreme weather conditions become increasingly frequent and intense as the planet continues to warm. This was seen in 2020 with record temperatures in the Arctic, large-scale wildfires in Australia and the US, and severe floods in several countries in Asia. In India, for instance, 2,067 people were killed due to floods along with an estimated loss of 10 billion dollars. Tropical cyclones were also seen in various parts of the world such as Cyclone Amphan that impacted India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, leading to 128 reported deaths and losses in infrastructure and crops amounting to 13 billion dollars.

In 2020, however, several economies announced their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, China’s president Xi Jinping said that China will achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, while the US president-elect Joe Biden pledged to rejoin the Paris Agreement and take firm action in a new rollout of the climate plan. Dr. Karsten Haustein, scientist at the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) said, however, “In context of the pandemic, scientists have found that the economic stimulus provided by governments as liquidity support to keep businesses afloat (and support individuals) dwarfs the annual energy investments required to stay on a low-carbon pathway consistent with the Paris climate agreement. Once we are faced with an emergency situation, seemingly impossible (financial) action is suddenly taken at unprecedented scale. Given we are in a state of climate emergency too – one which cannot be made undone with a vaccine – smart investment choices are what is needed given what’s at stake.”