Carlo Buontempo

The year 2024 is set to be the hottest on record, with global temperatures expected to surpass those of 2023, according to the European Climate Change Service, Copernicus. The announcement was made ahead of the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, where nations are expected to discuss significant increases in funding to combat climate change.

For the second year in a row, Earth will almost certainly be the hottest it's ever been. And for the first time, the globe this year reached more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming compared to the pre-industrial average, the European climate agency Copernicus said Thursday.

Over the past year, global temperatures have surged by 1.5 degrees Celsius, marking a period of unprecedented heat since the fossil fuel era began during the late 19th century. The data, cited by the "Guardian," reveals that between July 2023 and June 2024, Earth experienced its hottest temperatures on record.

The scorching heatwave, known as “Lucifer,” is blazing through Geria Epirus, pushing temperatures back into the 40s across Greece.

Due to greenhouse gases emitted by human activities, global temperature records have been consistently broken for over a year now. June 2024 was the warmest month ever recorded, surpassing the previous record set in June 2023.

People cool off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Las Vegas

Last month was the hottest June on record across the globe, the EU's climate monitor said Monday, capping half a year of wild and destructive weather from floods to heatwaves.

The rapid return of the La Nina weather phenomenon "may actually decrease" the risk that 2024 smashes last year's record heat, Europe's climate monitor told AFP, amid enduring historic global temperatures.

Last year was the planet's hottest on record by a substantial margin and likely the world's warmest in the last 100,000 years, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Tuesday.

Europe's summer last year was the hottest on record and caused thousands of deaths, a joint report by World Meteorological Organization and European Union scientists confirmed, while warning that such events could become more routine.

2020 has tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, the European Union's climate monitoring service said Friday, keeping Earth on a global warming fast track that could devastate large swathes of humanity.