For the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5 degrees celsius across an entire year. That's according to the EU's Climate Service, Copernicus. Warming reached 1.52 degrees in the period from February 2023 to January 2024. World leaders had promised in 2015 to try to limit the planet's long-term temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Well, for more on this, let's go live now to Dr. Maia Singer Hobbes, a Senior Research Fellow in the Climate Housing and Infrastructure Team at the Independent Think Tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research. Thank you so much for joining us. What's your reaction to this news?

I'm not surprised, but I am slightly dismayed. We've had increasingly concerned calls from climate scientists that we are on track to hit 1.5, or at the very least, that temperature continues to rise. If those haven't been a wake-up call, I'm hoping that this might be.

Lots of our viewers might be wondering why that figure of 1.5 degrees celsius is so significant.

Yeah. So climate scientists reach the figure of 1.5 degrees as a consistent global temperature increase compared to pre-industrial levels, because the evidence suggested that staying below 1.5 reduces some of the worst impact on ecosystems and on us, lots of our food systems are reliant on those ecosystems. If we stay below 1.5 degrees, above 1.5 degrees, we start to see that ecosystem collapse. As you mentioned, the international community listened to this advice from the scientists and in 2015, signed the Paris Agreement, including the UK in those lists of 195 countries. But it's worth noting that we are already seeing the impact of increasing global temperatures. Here in the UK, we saw the extreme heat in 2022, and we've seen this increased temperature over the past year. But we've also seen extreme weather events, flooding in Pakistan, drought in the Horn of Africa, wildfires across Canada and Australia. These impacts will get both more extreme and more frequent as temperatures continue to increase.

What gives you hope at the moment in terms of what governments across the world are doing or maybe not doing?

I think one of the things to say here is that we're already seeing the impacts of increasing global temperatures, which tells us that not enough is being done. But we are seeing moves in the right direction. We saw the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, which saw up to $1 trillion of government spending to address this. We've seen countries like China, which, although is one of the largest emitters, is also the largest producer of renewables, particularly of solar. We are seeing action, but I think what's clear is that we need to see more. The thing about problems, and we all know this, is that ignoring them doesn't make them go away. Addressing climate change and investing in the changes needed is actually an opportunity to build a greener economy and a fairer society. And we know that the effect of climate change are being felt by the poorest in society, both globally and here in the UK. So we really need to see that action being taken.

Okay, Dr. Maia Singer-Hobbs, we thank you for your comments. Thank you very much.