The world breaks record for average temperature in June: EU

The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service says that in early June the global surface climate broke hot records for the period.

Average global temperatures in early June were the warmest ever recorded for the period, exceeding previous records by a “substantial margin”, the European Union’s climate monitoring unit said.

“The world has just experienced its warmest June on record,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), he said in a statement on Thursday.

“Global mean surface air temperatures for the first few days of June 2023 were the highest in the ERA5 data record for early June by a substantial margin,” the Copernicus unit said, noting that some of the Data goes back to 1950.

Temperatures have dropped since then, but experts say the brief rise in early June set a new world record for heat for the month and indicates more extremes ahead as the planet enters an El Niño phase that could last for years.

Researchers from the EU’s Copernicus unit reported that in early June global surface air temperatures rose 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels for the first time.

That’s the threshold that governments said they would try to stick to at a 2015 summit in Paris.

According to the data, the daily global average temperature was at or above the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold between June 7 and June 11peaking at 1.69 degrees Celsius above it on June 9.

The unit said that on June 8 and 9 this year, the global average daily temperature was about 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than previous records for the same days.

“As the global average temperature continues to rise and exceeds the 1.5 degree Celsius limit with increasing frequency, the cumulative effects of the excesses will become increasingly serious and must be carefully monitored,” the unit said.

The days spent at the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold come as a three-year La Niña phase, which tends to buffer the effects of global warming, has given way to its opposite, an El Niño period, which could add another half degree or more to average temperatures.

Copernicus recently announced that The global oceans were warmer last month than any other May on record.

“The expectation is that 2024 will be even warmer than 2023 as this El Niño continues to develop,” Burgess said.

“We also know that the warmer the global climate, the more likely we are to have extreme events, and the more severe those extreme events can be,” he said.

“So there is a direct correlation between the degree of global warming and the frequency and intensity of extreme events.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday the world is running towards a climate change disasterdescribing the overall response as woefully inadequate.

Current climate policies will lead to average temperatures of 2.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times by the end of the century, nearly double the UN target of a 1.5 degree Celsius rise, Guterres said.

“That means a catastrophe. However, the collective response remains regrettable,” Guterres said at a press conference.

#ClimateAction it is being undermined.

There is a lack of ambition.

A lack of confidence.

A lack of support.

A lack of cooperation.

And a whole host of issues around clarity and credibility.

It’s time to wake up and step up. pic.twitter.com/OWaklAoilc

—António Guterres (@antonioguterres) June 15, 2023

“We are rushing towards disaster, eyes wide open, with too many willing to bet everything on wishful thinking, unproven technologies and silver bullets. It is time to wake up and take a step forward,” said the UN chief.

He said the fossil fuel industry must undertake not just a transition, but a complete transformation as it moves toward clean energy “and away from a product incompatible with human survival.”

“Countries are a long way from meeting their climate pledges and commitments. I see lack of ambition. A lack of confidence. A lack of support. A lack of cooperation. And a whole host of issues around clarity and credibility,” she said.