Greenhouse gas levels surged to a new record in 2023, committing the planet to rising temperatures for many years to come. CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than any time experienced during human existence.
May capped a full year of monthly record-breaking temperatures. Globally, rising heat is causing hundreds of deaths, disrupting education and displacing communities.
Across Europe, Asia and North America, surface air temperatures were more than 2°C higher in June, July and August 2023 than the average summer temperature between AD1 and 1890, as reconstructed from tree ring records.
The 2023 ozone hole opened early and fast, becoming one of the largest on record in mid-September, and it’s one of the longest-lived observed to date. The causes of this behaviour point to climate change or volcanic emissions.
Solar power accounted for three quarters of renewables capacity additions, of which PV in China alone topped the entire 2022 global figure.
Europe installed 18.3 GW of new wind power capacity in 2023. The EU-27 installed 16.2 GW of this, a record amount but only half of what it should be building to meet its 2030 climate and energy targets.
Earth has endured 12 months of temperatures 1.5C hotter than the pre-industrial era for the first time on record. That is a grave foretaste of the Paris climate deal's crucial 1.5C warming threshold.
The latest calculations from several science agencies showing Earth obliterated global heat records last year may seem scary. But scientists worry that what's behind those numbers could be even worse.
Earth's average surface temperature in 2023 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis by NASA.
July was a recording breaking month for both land and sea temperatures, according to EU climate observers Copernicus.
The temperatures are being driven by human-induced climate change and the naturally-occurring weather pattern known as El Niño, scientists say. Last month was the hottest June on record, the EU's climate monitoring service Copernicus said on Thursday.
Germany will ban the use of the weedkiller glyphosate - the subject of billion-dollar U.S lawsuits over claims it causes cancer - from the end of 2023 and limit its use before then.
Inditex, owner of fast fashion brand Zara, announced that "100 percent of the cotton, linen and polyester used by all eight of its brands will be organic, sustainable or recycled" and that all viscose will be sustainably produced by 2023.
NASA has announced a new space telescope mission dedicated to understanding the origins of life and the universe. The space agency is aiming for a 2023 launch.
It will map and study the tiny world in great detail, eventually returning a piece of Bennu to Earth in 2023. The discoveries of OSIRIS-REx will shed light on our solar system's ancient history.
