2023 confirmed as the hottest year in recorded history
Global temperatures soared past all previous records, driven by climate change and a developing El Niño.
Scientists confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, as global temperatures soared past all previous records by a striking margin, driven by the relentless build-up of greenhouse gases and amplified by a developing El Niño.
The year saw an extraordinary run of record-breaking months, with global average temperatures repeatedly exceeding anything in the instrumental record, and by some measures likely the warmest in many thousands of years. The planet edged alarmingly close to the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold of warming that nations had pledged to try to avoid over the long term.
The heat manifested in extremes around the world: deadly heat waves across multiple continents, record ocean temperatures, severe drought, intense wildfires and powerful storms. Antarctic sea ice fell to astonishing lows, alarming researchers.
Scientists emphasised that the fundamental driver was the continued burning of fossil fuels, with El Niño providing an additional, temporary boost. The margin by which records were broken, particularly in the latter half of the year, startled even veteran climate researchers.
The findings underscored the urgency of cutting emissions, landing as nations gathered for climate negotiations. Each new record, scientists stressed, is not an isolated anomaly but part of a clear and accelerating trend, a signal that the climate is changing rapidly and that the window to limit the most dangerous warming is narrowing.