The new year has entered with news that leaves little room for optimism: according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024 was the first year in which the global average temperature exceeded the critical threshold of 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. A figure that is not just a number, but a tangible symbol of the climate crisis that is accelerating without brakes.
While the scientific community confirms these alarming data, the Earth itself screams its suffering. The devastating ones fires that are incinerating California in the early hours of 2025 are just the latest chapter in a climate tragedy unfolding before our eyes. The flames devour forests, houses, human and animal lives, leaving behind a ghostly landscape and unbreathable air.
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And it is not an isolated case: all over the world, extreme events are marking the beginning of this new year. Abnormal storms, destructive floods, unprecedented droughts they are affecting different regions of the planet, threatening communities and ecosystems.
Fires in California are now a dramatic constant, fueled by climate change which has made dry seasons longer and temperatures increasingly higher. Global warming has created the ideal conditions for uncontrollable fires, reducing humidity in soils and plants and making forests veritable hotbeds ready to explode at the slightest spark. The strong winds and record temperatures recorded in recent months have only worsened the situation, turning inhabited areas into desolate zones and forcing thousands of people to evacuate. The link between these fires and climate change is now undeniable: every year there are increasingly violent fire seasons, a trend that only concrete actions can stop.
The failure of the Paris Agreement
The 2015 Paris Agreement set the limit of 1.5°C as the threshold not to be exceeded to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. Now that that threshold has been crossed, we find ourselves faced with a reality that is no longer a theoretical warning, but a condemnation that materializes with each degree. 2024 was the tenth consecutive hottest year on record, with record temperatures leading to extreme heat waves and unprecedented levels of water vapor in the atmosphere, increasing the frequency of disastrous weather events.
Climate change is profoundly altering global weather patterns, making such catastrophes increasingly frequent even in areas historically not subject to similar phenomena. Climatic anomalies, such as the increase in atmospheric humidity and the intensification of precipitation, are unmistakable signals of the ongoing climate crisis and the urgency of intervening with adaptation and mitigation measures.
2024: a point of no return for humanity
2024 marked a point of no return. According to the WMO, it was the warmest year on record, capping a decade of unprecedented temperature extremes. The words of the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres were clear: “This is climate breakdown, in real time.” The time for half measures is over, and an immediate change of course is needed to drastically reduce emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable sources. The WMO highlighted how the increase in greenhouse gases continues unabated, ensuring even more heat for the future as extreme climate events become the new normal.
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From tropical cyclones to heat waves that have exceeded 50°C in different areas of the world, to devastating fires and floods that have hit every continent, 2024 has shown how climate change is affecting every aspect of human and ecological life . The cryosphere, with its rapidly melting glaciers and polar ice caps, will be at the center of discussions in 2025, when UNESCO and WMO lead the International Year of Glacier Conservation. Every fraction of a degree more intensifies these effects, making a global response even more urgent.
And while the planet burns, floods and overheats, the political and industrial debate still seems to oscillate between broken promises and insufficient actions. The increase in CO2 and methane concentrations in 2024 is evidence of a crisis that continues to be fueled by unsustainable economic models. The time for half measures is over. We need decisive action, a radical commitment to decarbonisation, the energy transition, the protection of forests and key ecosystems. Communities are forced to face the devastation of an increasingly unpredictable climate. Economic losses accumulate, ecosystems collapse and human lives are disrupted by increasingly extreme events. Any delay in mitigation and adaptation actions translates into increasingly higher costs for humanity as a whole, pushing us towards a spiral of endless crisis. 2025 requires us to recognize that the time for words is over: we need drastic decisions, a radical paradigm shift and a political will that is up to the challenge.
The devastating images coming from Valencia, with its submerged streets and the mud that invaded houses and shops, remain imprinted in the collective memory as a sad warning. The scenes of desperation, the heroic efforts of the rescuers, the pain of the families affected are the human face of a crisis that is no longer distant, but which is affecting our cities and our lives with increasing force. These tragedies must serve as a final warning: climate change is not a problem of the future, but an ongoing catastrophe that requires immediate and incisive responses.
Climate inaction presents us with a very high bill (which our children will pay)
As highlighted by Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, “humanity is responsible for its own destiny”. The future is not yet written, but every day of delay in the fight against climate change brings us closer and closer to scenarios in which the very survival of the next generations will be put to the test. The beginning of 2025 gave us a clear signal: ignoring it would be a crime against our own Planet.
It is not just a problem of numbers, of broken records, of failed policies. It is the world in which our children will grow up, their security, their future. Every time I see images of a submerged city or a forest reduced to ashes, I think of the world we are leaving them. And I wonder: what will we tell when they ask us why we haven’t done enough?
Environmental journalism is more necessary than ever
Up here greenMe I have been dealing with these issues for 14 years, talking, denouncing and trying to raise awareness. When I started this job, I believed with all my heart that it wouldn’t happen and that I could make a difference. But the reality is that this news interests few, while the majority continues to take refuge in their safe corner, in the false belief that everything will continue as usual. The information system itself still seems anesthetized, hostage to those who have an interest in minimizing, distorting, confusing. This is why environmental journalism is more necessary today than ever: it is the voice of those who do not give up, of those who denounce, of those who refuse to pass off political inaction and greenwashing as solutions.
But it is a fragile journalism, constantly under attack, while lobbies pollute the narrative as much as toxic fumes pollute the air. Meanwhile, the “oil ports”, once a symbol of fossil domination, now find themselves at risk of sinking under the rising seas that they themselves helped unleash. A perfect metaphor for our time: those who built the disaster are now sinking with it. And what will we do instead? We will continue to tell it, with the only weapon we have: the truth.
