

Nowadays, global warming has become a major environmental concern that has drawn public attention worldwide. To better understand the extent of the issue, a summary of key facts and statistics about climate change, complied from international reports, is present here.
- 2018 was the hottest year in Europe and the Middle East on record and the fourth warmest year on Earth since 1850.
- The average temperature in 2018 was around 1.16 °C (2.09 °F) above the pre-industrial baseline (the average during 1850-1900), just slightly lower than that in 2016 (the hottest), 2017 (2nd hottest), and 2015.
- Compared to the pre-industrial levels, the land average temperature in 2018 increased around 1.53 °C (2.75 °F), and the ocean surface temperature increased around 0.88 °C (1.58 °F).
- All but one of the 10 warmest years on record occurred after 2005.
- On average, global temperature is rising at a rate of around 0.2°C per decade.
- Since 1900, global average sea level has risen 16-21 cm.
- Over the past two decades, average global sea level was rising at a rate of more than 3 mm per year or 3 cm per decade.
- Since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions have been doubled, raising average global temperature by at least 0.7°C.
- Around 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions are from transport and food consumption related to tourism.
- Annually, 5.6 gigatons of CO2 emissions are sequestered in marine and terrestrial ecosystems – equivalent to 60% of global fossil CO2 emissions.
- Since 1960, global fossil CO2 emissions have increased by 270% (from 9.8 GtCO2 in 1960 to 37.1 GtCO2 in 2018).
- Since 1960, annual fossil CO2 emissions in both China and India have increased by around 10 times, the fastest increases in the world.
- Since 2007, China has become the largest contributor to global fossil CO2 emissions.
- In 2017, China covered 27% of global CO2 emissions, much more than that shared by United States (15%), EU28(10%), and India(7%).
- The amount of annual fossil CO2 emissions per capita in USA (16.2 tons) is 130% more than that in Europe (7.0 tons) and China (7.0 tons).
- Historically, both USA and European Union contributed to almost half of global cumulative fossil CO2 emissions (USA 25%, EU28 22%).
- The global CO2 concentration in atmosphere had increased from ~300ppm in 1960 to 405ppm in 2017 (up 33%).
- In December 2015, representatives from 195 countries come to a Paris Agreement aiming to limit global warming to 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels.
- In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report further limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
- The consequences of 1°C of global warming, such as extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic Sea ice, have been witnessed in some areas in recent years.
- Currently, the average global temperature is on the path to an increase of more than 3.0°C by 2050 if no ambitious mitigation actions are implemented or the mitigation actions are ineffective.
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