2023 WAS THE hottest year of modern records as temperatures continue to rise towards a crucial threshold.

The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has announced that temperatures in 2023 are the hottest in recorded history and likely exceed any other time period in at least the last 100,000 years.

2023 has replaced 2016, which was previously the hottest year of modern records going back to 1850.

The rate of increase in global average temperature is fast approaching the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark above pre-industrial levels, a critical limit beyond which devastating climate impacts are expected to escalate significantly if the temperature rise is sustained.

The new Copernicus report details that in 2023, global temperatures were 1.48 degrees higher than the pre-industrial baseline.

The 1.5 limit was temporarily exceeded for nearly half of the year. Alarmingly, two days in November 2023 were more than two degrees Celsius above the baseline. In the summer months, July 2023 was likely the hottest month of the last 120,000 years.

The report details that “unprecedented global temperatures from June onwards led 2023 to become the warmest year on record – overtaking by a large margin 2016, the previous warmest year”.

The global average temperature for 2023 was 14.98°C, 0.17°C higher than recorded for 2016. The difference may appear narrow, but in fact, seemingly small increases or decreases in average temperatures can have major impacts on the earth’s climate and weather systems.

Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, explained that “not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1C warmer than the pre-industrial period”. 

“Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years,” Burgess said. Written weather records are available back to around 1850, but scientists can understand how the earth’s climate functioned before then through information taken from sources like tree rings, ice cores and sediments.

“2023 was an exceptional year with climate records tumbling like dominoes.”

Extreme events around the world in 2023 had significant impacts on human health, ecosystems, nature and infrastructure, the report says, with “exceptional” instances of flooding, wildfires, drought and extreme heat.

Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo stated that “the extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we now are from the climate in which our civilisation developed”.

“This has profound consequences for the Paris Agreement and all human endeavour,” Buontempo said.

“If we want to successfully manage our climate risk portfolio, we need to urgently decarbonise our economy whilst using climate data and knowledge to prepare for the future.” 

2023 was Europe’s second-warmest year on record, 0.17°C cooler than 2020.

Temperatures in Europe were above average for 11 months of the year, with September being the warmest September on record. December 2022 to February 2023 was Europe’s second-warmest winter on record.

Heavy precipitation triggered significant flood events across the continent from spring onwards.

Ocean temperatures around the world were “persistently and unusually high”, leading to marine heatwaves with harmful impacts on aquatic life and that increased the intensity of storm activity.

The high temperatures are also speeding up the melting of ice shelves, while Antarctic sea ice plunged to record-low levels last year.

Carbon dioxide and methane concentrations reached record highs of 419 parts per million and 1,902 parts per billion respectively.

Additional reporting by AFP