Indicators of Global Climate Change 2023: annual update of large-scale indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence

5 June 2024

An international group of researchers has produced a second update to key indicators of the state of the climate system set out in the IPCC AR6 assessment, building on last year's initial synthesis.

Forster et al. (2024) assess emissions, concentrations, temperatures, energy transfers, radiation balances, and the role of human activity and conclude that human-induced warming continues to increase at a rate that is unprecedented in the instrumental record.

Other key findings include the following:

• The emissions of greenhouse gases, principally from fossil fuel consumption and industrial activities, remain at a persistent high.
• The greenhouse gas concentrations in our global atmosphere continue to increase.
• The improvements in air quality are simultaneously reducing the strength of aerosol cooling.
• The Earth's energy imbalance continues to grow, with unprecedented flows of heat into the Earth's oceans.
• The global average surface temperatures continue to rise.
• The record temperatures in 2023 were dominated by human activity, but natural climate variability also played a role.
• The remaining carbon budget for 1.5° C is smaller than ever.

Publication of this up-to-date, openly accessible data, which adheres closely to IPCC methodologies, provides a means of tracking and monitoring human influence on climate in between the publication of IPCC reports.

Contact: Piers M. Forster (p.m.forster@leeds.ac.uk)