July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, the European Copernicus service confirmed on Tuesday, detailing data that is troubling national governments.
Last month, which was marked by heatwaves and fires across the world, was 0.33°C warmer than July 2019 (16.63°C), the month that held the record until now. The air temperature was also 0.72°C warmer than the average (1991-2020) for July, according to Copernicus.
This gloomy assessment prompted UN Secretary General António Guterres to say that humanity had left the era of global warming behind and was entering one of "global boiling".
The oceans are also feeling these worrying developments, with researchers recording abnormally high surface temperatures from April, with unprecedented levels in July. An absolute record was set on 30 July, with an average temperature of 20.96°C. For the month as a whole, the surface temperature was 0.51°C above the average (1991-2020).
'Disastrous consequences'
"We have just witnessed new records for both global air and ocean surface temperatures in July. These records have disastrous consequences for people and for the planet, which is exposed to more frequent and more intense extreme events," stressed Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the European Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The evidence of global warming caused by human activities – partly a result of our use of fossil fuels – have in fact appeared simultaneously across the world: Greece was ravaged by flames, as well as Canada, which was also hit by terrible floods. Overwhelming heat struck southern Europe, North Africa, the southern United States and parts of China, which were also hit by torrential rains shortly afterwards.
Copernicus also indicates that Antarctic ice reached its lowest levels for July since satellite observations began, at 15% below average. Samantha Burgess also points out that "2023 is currently the third warmest year with 0.43°C above the recent average" and that "the global average temperature in July was 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."
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This figure of 1.5°C is highly symbolic, as it was the most ambitious climate reduction target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming. However, the threshold referred to in this international agreement relates to averages over many years, not just a single month.
"Even if all this is only temporary, it shows the urgency of making ambitious efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main cause of these records," Burgess concludes.
2023 may not yet have finished breaking records. "We are expecting a relatively warm end to the year due to the development of the El Niño phenomenon," points out Copernicus. This cyclical climatic phenomenon over the Pacific is in fact synonymous with global warming.
