Levin quoted in China Daily on hottest month on record
The world experienced temperatures in June that were the highest since modern record-keeping started in 1880, according to scientists. Environmental experts said the record heat should put greater pressure on nations to tackle climate change in upcoming talks in Paris.
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"This is a story that we've been hearing over and over again and El Nino alone can't account for the full global warming that we're seeing. We know that 14 of the 15 warmest years have occurred since 2000, and the trends we've been seeing suggest that El Nino alone can't really explain this," said Kelly Levin, senior associate at think tank World Resources Institute.
"What it does suggest is that given the trends in warming and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that we're pumping into the atmosphere every year, that it is likely that 2015 could again be a record warm year," she said.
Levin said that the record warmth - experienced in the western parts of the US and across China, as well as parts of South America and Africa - will hopefully continue to be "wake-up signs" to decision makers that meet in Paris to reach agreement to phase out emissions.
"Especially in the lead-up to Paris and coming out of the New York summit last year, there certainly is a lot of momentum. We know we need more, we know we need more quickly, and I think the hope is that we'll come out with a very strong agreement in December that not only brings countries back to the table repeatedly, to set commitments over five-year cycles, but also has a long-term goal to phase our emissions," and to provide those signals to governments around the world as well as the private sector to really transform their economies, she said.
