“This extreme month of September has given the year 2023 the dubious honor of topping the leaderboard to become the hottest year on record,” Deputy Head of Copernicus Climate Change (C3S) Samantha Burgess said in a press release.
Moreover, average temperatures are now 1.4 degrees higher than in pre-industrial times. The temperature is now very close to the limit of the Paris climate agreement. That was supposed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
“It is not certain that we will reach 1.5 degrees in 2023. But we are very close,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo.
At 16.37 degrees Celsius, global temperatures in September were half a degree warmer than the previous warmest month of September (2020) and are almost one degree higher than an average September between 1991 and 2020. Compared to pre-industrial levels, temperatures in September even 1.75 degrees warmer.
The warmest September on record was also recorded in Europe: the average sea surface temperature was 20.92 degrees, 2.51 degrees higher than the average for the period between 1991 and 2020. “Two months before the (UN climate conference) COP28, the feeling of urgency for ambitious climate action is stronger than ever,” Burgess emphasizes.