2023 “smashed” the record for the hottest year by a huge margin, providing “dramatic testimony” of how much warmer and more dangerous today’s climate is from the cooler one in which human civilisation developed.

The primary cause of this increased global heating was continued record emissions of carbon dioxide, assisted by the return of the natural climate phenomenon El Niño.

Carlo Buontempo, a CCCS director, said: “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.

The CCCS highlighted a number of “remarkable” events in 2023, including huge blazes in Canada that helped drive up global carbon emissions from wildfires by 30%, and unprecedented ocean temperatures that caused marine heatwaves to strike many regions.

Prof John Marsham, at the University of Leeds, said: “We desperately need to rapidly cut fossil fuel use and reach net zero to preserve the livable climate that we all depend on.”

While 2023 was perceived by many as a year in which global heating accelerated, scientists said the higher temperatures were in line with the predicted result of increased carbon emissions.

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