According to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) report, in 2022 the Earth's surface temperature rose by 0.89 degrees Celsius (°C) compared to the annual average temperature for the period 1951-1980.
NASA obtained this data from year-round temperature monitoring and recording through weather stations, ships, and ocean sensors in various parts of the world.
Temperature measurements were also validated with data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), a NASA satellite technology capable of monitoring infrared energy emissions from the Earth's surface and atmosphere.
During the period 1981-2014, the Earth's surface temperature rose annually by 0.1°C to 0.7°C compared to the annual average temperature for the period 1951-1980.
However, since 2015, the temperature increase has consistently exceeded 0.8°C, as shown in the graph.
"This warming trend is alarming. There are already signs that our climate is warming, wildfires are becoming more intense, storms are getting stronger, droughts are increasing, and sea levels are rising," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a press release on Thursday (12/1/2023).
According to Gavin Schmidt, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), NASA's central climate modeling agency, this upward temperature trend is caused by human activity.
"The warming is due to human activities that continue to pump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and its impact on the planet will continue in the long term," said Gavin.
"The last nine years have been the warmest since records began in 1880. The Earth's temperature in 2022 was about 1.11°C warmer than the late 19th-century average," he continued.
Since 2015, more than one hundred countries have signed the Paris Agreement, which includes a commitment to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
This is because, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if the Earth's temperature rises above this threshold, the risk of extreme weather could increase significantly, accompanied by an increased risk of drought, crop failure, ecosystem damage, and rising sea levels that could threaten coastal communities.
To keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C, the ratifying countries of the Paris Agreement have committed to reducing carbon emissions, including Indonesia.
However, research by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that current climate change mitigation policies in major countries are not strong enough to achieve this target.
"Ambitious targets are important, but they don't amount to much without equally ambitious policies and accelerated implementation," UNEP said in its Emissions Gap Report 2022.