EU climate monitors have confirmed 2023 as the warmest calendar year on record, with a global average temperature of 14.98°C, 0.60°C above the 1991-2020 level, overtaking 2016, the previous warmest year.

Unprecedented global temperatures from June onwards led 2023 to become the warmest year on record – overtaking by a large margin 2016, the previous warmest year the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported.

Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said 2023 was an exceptional year with climate records tumbling like dominoes.

“Not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1°C warmer than the pre-industrial period. Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years.”

Global surface air temperature highlights:

2023 is confirmed as the warmest calendar year in global temperature data records going back to 1850.

2023 had a global average temperature of 14.98°C, 0.17°C higher than the previous highest annual value in 2016.

2023 was 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level.

It is likely that a 12-month period ending in January or February 2024 will exceed 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.

2023 marks the first time on record that every day within a year has exceeded 1°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level. Close to 50% of days were more than 1.5°C warmer then the 1850-1900 level, and two days in November were, for the first time, more than 2°C warmer.

Annual average air temperatures were the warmest on record, or close to the warmest, over sizeable parts of all ocean basins and all continents except Australia.

Each month from June to December in 2023 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year.

July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record. Boreal summer (June-August) was also the warmest season on record.

September 2023 was the month with a temperature deviation above the 1991–2020 average larger than any month in the ERA5 dataset.

December 2023 was the warmest December on record globally, with an average temperature of 13.51°C, 0.85°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.78°C above the 1850-1900 level for the month. You can access information specific for December 2023 in our monthly bulletin.

Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, commented: “The extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we now are from the climate in which our civilisation developed. This has profound consequences for the Paris Agreement and all human endeavours. If we want to successfully manage our climate risk portfolio, we need to urgently decarbonise our economy whilst using climate data and knowledge to prepare for the future.”