The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Tuesday announced Earth had its hottest year ever recorded in 2023, confirming something that scores of scientists across the globe had been expecting and dreading.
The climate agency said global temperatures in 2023 had been higher than in any year going back to at least 1850, reaching “exceptionally high” levels and averaging 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than in pre-industrial times.
But several scientists had seen the milestone coming after a year that experienced a good share of extremes. Beginning in June, the planet recorded unprecedented hotter-than-usual conditions, and July and August came in as the hottest two months ever recorded.
“More evidence of the increasing impacts of climate change”
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, called 2023 “an exceptional year”, adding temperatures recorded last year “likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years.”
Nearly every corner of the planet felt the consequences. Dangerous temperature rises gripped parts of North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Oceans also recorded exceptional temperatures and fires raged in Canada, burning acres and sending air quality plummeting.
“The annual data presented here provides yet more evidence of the increasing impacts of climate change,” said Mauro Facchini, head of Earth observation at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space.
Does the Copernicus report mean our climate goals have failed?
The hotter-than-usual conditions had been boosted by the ongoing El Nino phenomenon, a natural climate pattern. The Copernicus report highlighted the challenge ahead in limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as per the 2015 Paris deal.
Nearly half of the days in 2023 had been 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the report. But that alone does not mean the climate accord goals have failed, as the threshold refers to temperatures above 1.5C across decades.
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Still, the European report has confirmed a concerning development. Other organisations, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, are expected to announce their findings later this week.
