The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that 2023 was the warmest year in records extending back to the mid-nineteenth century, with the global average close to 1.48 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Every month from June onwards set a record for that month, and ocean surface temperatures remained at unprecedented levels for much of the year. Wildfires in Canada burned an area larger than many European countries.
Scientists attributed the anomaly to continued greenhouse gas emissions combined with the onset of an El Niño event and reduced sulphur emissions from shipping.
