2023 is officially the hottest year on record as global temperatures close in on warming limit: Copernicus report

2023 is now officially the hottest year on record, beating the previous record set in 2016 by a large margin, according to Copernicus, Europe's climate change service.

A year featuring extreme events across the globe is now officially Earth's hottest year on record, according to Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service.

2023 has been confirmed as the hottest year on record surpassing 2016, the previous hottest year, by a large margin, according to a new climate report released by Copernicus on Tuesday. The data for this record goes back to 1850.

The global average temperature for 2023 was 14.98 degrees Celsius (58.96 F). The previous record was 14.81 degrees Celsius (58.66 F) set in 2016.

Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, said 2023 was an exceptional year "with climate records tumbling like dominoes."

The record-breaking year, wrapped up with another new record. December 2023 was the warmest December on record globally.