2023: world's hottest year in recorded history

Last year was the hottest year recorded in recent history, the European Union's climate agency said yesterday.

The European Union's climate agency said that, on average, in 2023 the planet was 1.48 degrees Celsius warmer than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, pumping toxic gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

According to scientist, last year was likely the world's warmest in the last 100,000 years.

Global air temperatures have risen almost every day since July last year, according to BBC analysis. Ocean temperatures have also risen to record levels.

Scientists estimate that the record temperature rise last year was not solely due to human activity. El Niño, a natural weather phenomenon, also played a major role.

El Niño is a natural phenomenon that releases more heat into the atmosphere due to unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to try to prevent global warming from surpassing 1.5°C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) to avoid its most severe consequences. However, global temperatures have now risen very close to that level.

Last year, heatwaves around the world led to major weather disasters, including heat storms in China and the United Kingdom, floods in Libya, and forest fires in Canada.