A newly proposed method for calculating the global temperature suggests that countries may have already failed their main climate goal: to limit warming to below 1.5C. Scientists using the method say the world was 1.49C hotter than in pre-industrial times by the end of 2023. Conventional accounting puts that number at around 1.3C.
The UK-based scientists behind the new approach, who published it Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, say it simplifies the tracking of climate change, is easier to use and provides a more accurate assessment of warming to date.
The global average surface temperature is a key metric that countries use to evaluate climate progress, or lack thereof, as t