Climate stripes ‘off the scale’ for hot 2023

Global temperatures were so hot in 2023 that the latest climate stripes image needs a whole new colour to show it, its creator said. 

Professor Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at NCAS, University of Reading, has published the first updated climate stripes image for the globe using the latest interim data for 2023.  

The stripe representing 2023 will require the darkest red colour from the current scale. 

But when 2023 is confirmed as the warmest global year on record by a wide margin the darkest shade of red will not tell the full story, Professor Hawkins said. 

“The colours used in the climate stripes are based on a scale designed to show which years are warmer and cooler than the average,” Professor Hawkins said.  

“2023 was off the end of the scale.” 

He added: “This was always going to happen at some point, given the continued increase in global greenhouse gases, and is in line with what scientists have been predicting for decades. But the margin of record breaking in 2023 has still been a surprise. 

“The climate stripes are all about starting conversations about climate change, and 2024 has to be the year we turn conversations into faster action. 

“The good news is that we already have many of the solutions we need. We now need bold, transformative change across all parts of society to make our planet’s climate safer for current and future generations." 

The new image comes as the Met Office yesterday confirmed 2023 as the hottest year on record for Wales and Northern Ireland and the second warmest on record for the UK as a whole, just behind 2022.

The climate stripes show the change in average annual global temperatures since 1850. Red stripes indicate hotter years and blue stripes indicate cooler years, against the average of the period 1971-2000.

The stripes represent billions of pieces of scientific data, collected over more than a century, in a single striking image. It is now widely recognised as an iconic emblem for the impacts of climate change. Over the past year, they have been seen on Envision Racing’s new Formula E racecar, on the White Cliffs of Dover, and on Toronto’s CN Tower.  

The stripes have been seen at the United Nations, featured on the cover of a book by Greta Thunberg, appeared on stage at Glastonbury and Reading Festival, and on the catwalk at London Fashion Week. 

Stripes for more than 200 countries, many cities and regions, and the oceans are available to download and share for free from showyourstripes.info.