The limits of 1.5°C and 2°C above the pre-industrial average global temperature have been temporarily exceeded several times in recent months. For the first time in the ERA5 dataset, global surface temperature reached or exceeded 1.5°C above the 1850–1900 average for 12 consecutive months.

These facts, reported by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) based on data from its flagship ERA5 reanalysis dataset, very naturally raise questions about why this is important and the methodology used to calculate these exceedances. Read an overview of basic information about these thresholds. (More on climate.copernicus.eu)