2023 was hottest year on record, says EU’s Copernicus climate change service

ATHENS

Just-concluded 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, and likely beyond, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Tuesday in a report.

“With the global-average temperature 14.98 C (58.96F), 2023 has replaced 2016 as the warmest calendar year on record,” it noted, adding that “each month from June to December in 2023 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year.”

July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record, according to the report.

More specifically, 2023 was the second-warmest year for Europe, 1.02C above the 1991-2020 average, and just 0.17C cooler than 2020, the warmest year on record for the continent.

As such, temperatures in Europe were above average for 11 months during 2023, with September being the warmest September on record.

Similarly, the European winter (December 2022 – February 2023) was the second-warmest winter on record.

Moreover, the report warned that growing greenhouse emissions also led to unusually high ocean temperatures, which can have significant and sometimes devastating impacts on ocean ecosystems and biodiversity, and lead to socioeconomic impacts.

Commenting on the report, Samantha Burgess, C3S’s deputy director, said on X: “2023 was an exceptional year with climate records tumbling like dominoes.”

"Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years," Burgess also said, adding that it also marked the first time on record that every day within a year exceeded a 1C temperature difference above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level.