evidence: Steady global surface warming from 1973 to 2022 but increased warming rate after 1990 [...] Concurrently, the rate of change, and balance between components of, anthropogenic radiative forcing is also changing4. Atmospheric concentrations of CH4 have increased strongly in the recent decade, while the increase in anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the primary driver of warming, has slowed to ~1%/year, relative to ~3%/year in the period 1990–201010. Emissions of SO2, precursor of cooling sulfate aerosols, have decreased strongly over the last decade, largely due to strong Chinese efforts to combat air pollution11. Because of the rapid and potentially non-linear influence of aerosol emission changes on surface temperatures8, and the remaining uncertainty on the total anthropogenic aerosol forcing of the climate12, the near-term GSTA evolution can provide a crucial test of the strength of the aerosol-climate interaction. Tracking the rate of change of global surface temperatures is therefore crucial, on both short and long time scales. [...] Table 1 Global mean surface warming rates for the recent 50-, 20- and 10-year periods, and rate changes calculated using 20-year intervals.