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July is set to be hottest month ever recorded, U.N. says, citing latest temperature data

27 July 2023 19:51 (UTC +04:00)

The United Nations said Thursday that new data from its World Meteorological Organization, gathered in partnership with the European Copernicus Climate Change Service, shows July will be the hottest month ever recorded on the planet, APA reports citing CBS News.

"Climate change is here. It is terrifying, and it is just the beginning," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday.

"Anthropogenic [human-caused greenhouse gas] emissions are ultimately the main driver of these rising temperatures," said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus service. "Extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future."

We are now seeing clearly around the world why it is so urgent to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Professor Petteri Taalas, the head of the WMO, the U.N.'s weather service. He called climate action "not a luxury, but a must."

"July's record is unlikely to remain isolated this year ... seasonal forecasts indicate that over land areas temperatures are likely to be well above average, exceeding the 80th percentile of climatology for the time of year," according to Carlo Buontempo of Copernicus' climate change service.

"Climate change will likely combine to fuel global temperature increases and we anticipate we'll see the warmest year on record sometime in the next five years," Dr. Christ Hewitt, WMO director for Climate Services, said Thursday during a briefing for journalists. He predicted that there was "a 98% likelihood that at least one of the next five years will be the warmest on record."