2023 was the hottest year on record for the planet, with global temperatures close to the 1.5°C limit, according to European Union scientists. University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability experts are available to comment. 

Jonathan Overpeck is an interdisciplinary climate scientist and dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability. He is an expert on climate and weather extremes, sea-level rise, the impacts of climate change and options for dealing with it. He served as a lead author on the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 and 2014 reports.

“Global temperature in 2023 blew the doors off previous records in many ways. A bigger jump in global warmth than ever before in the global thermometer record, more individual days—hundreds—breaking records than ever before, a warmer ocean than ever before,” he said.

“And the warming will continue to accelerate until we halt the burning of fossil fuels. This means continued worsening extreme heat and heat waves, but also many other worsening climate extremes driven by warmer temperatures. More severe droughts, more intense rainfall, more devastating hurricanes and bigger, more widespread wildfires.

“The list goes on and, increasingly, more and more people in the U.S. and around the world are experiencing the trauma these extremes bring to lives and livelihoods. The good news is that we know how to stop the mayhem, and that means replacing fossil fuels with the clean energy alternatives that also help clean up the air and save money.

“The big question right now is what will 2024 bring? The odds favor another exceptionally warm and extreme year of climate disaster. The on-going El Niño is helping to boost global temperature, but it’s important to remember that most of the heat humans trap with their emissions of greenhouse gases ends up in the ocean. This is why El Niños tend to release more ocean heat to the atmosphere than in the past.

“Ultimately, the global temperature records that are becoming more extreme by the decade are driven by human-caused global warming and the impact of this warming on the oceans and El Niño.”

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Greg Keoleian is a professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability and co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems. He is also co-director of MI Hydrogen, U-M’s hydrogen initiative. Keoleian has led more than 100 research studies, analyzing life-cycle energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and the costs of conventional and alternative vehicle technology, renewable energy technologies, buildings and infrastructure, consumer products and packaging, and a variety of food systems.

“We can all be alarmed by the news that 2023 was the warmest year on record,” he said. “Climate action is urgently needed to limit warming and the adverse climate impacts such as heat stress, flooding and droughts.

“Most importantly, everyone has a role to play in addressing the crisis. Action is needed by industry, governments, local communities, households and individuals to curb our use of fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Examples of key climate solutions include increasing the share of renewable energy sources, electrification of vehicles and building heating and appliances, more utilization of public transit, increased energy efficiency and conservation, and diet shifts.”

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Richard Rood is a professor emeritus of climate and space sciences and engineering at the College of Engineering and a professor emeritus at the School for Environment and Sustainability. He is an expert on U.S. weather modeling and can discuss the connection between weather, climate and society. He is also a co-principal investigator at the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments, a federally funded partnership between U-M and Michigan State University.

“As soon as an El Niño watch was issued last spring, I expected 2023 to be the warmest year on record. This record is yet another affirmation that the planet is accumulating heat, and that the temperature is rising,” he said.

“Since the planet will continue to warm, I expect that in five to 10 years we will be leaving 2023’s record behind us. Because this record is consistent with what models and theory tell us should be happening, it stands as a verification point that our science-based understanding is basically correct.”

Open Climate

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Read the full experts advisory on the Michigan News website.