August hottest month ever recorded globally: EU monitor

August was the hottest single month ever recorded globally, according to the EU's climate monitor. The month's temperatures were 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, surpassing the 1.5C threshold agreed by countries to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. This does not mean the limit has been permanently crossed, but it shows a trend towards breaching it.

The record was driven by a combination of climate change and the rising influence of El Niño. Ocean temperatures also reached unprecedented highs, with the world's oceans hitting their highest temperature on record. Western Europe experienced its warmest summer, with high temperatures exceeding those of the deadly heat of 2003.

The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service described August as a remarkable month in the global climate record. Its strategic lead for climate, Dr Samantha Burgess, said the impacts of the record temperatures were being felt by communities, economies, and ecosystems across the world. The UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, attributed the record to humanity's fossil fuel addiction.

Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, BBC News — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.