The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service revealed that August was the hottest month globally ever recorded, with an average global air temperature of 16.96 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record set in July 2023 by 0.01 degrees Celsius.
However, Copernicus noted that the slight difference makes August this year and July 2023 statistically tied as the hottest months. Copernicus observational data dates back to 1940, while natural evidence such as ice cores, tree rings, and coral skeletons allow scientists to compare current climate conditions with much longer historical periods.
Samantha Burgess from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which oversees Copernicus, said humans may not have experienced such high temperatures for at least the past 100,000 years.
Scientists indicate that human activities, especially burning coal, oil, and natural gas, have increased global temperatures by about 1.4 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, intensifying extreme weather events and making them more frequent, while greenhouse gas emissions trapping heat reached a new peak in 2025.
Simon Stiell, the United Nations Climate Chief, stated that the evidence is irrefutable and that this situation results from humanity's reliance on fossil fuels, which is accelerating the climate crisis.
Global sea surface temperatures also set new daily records and marked one of the hottest Augusts ever recorded, causing oceans worldwide to remain at unprecedented temperatures for the third consecutive month.
Scientists point out that over 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gases is absorbed by the oceans, slowing the temperature rise on land but severely impacting marine life, coral reefs, and coastal communities.
Temperatures reached record highs in many hot regions, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the tropical Pacific Ocean, which is increasingly influenced by a strengthening El Niño phenomenon.
El Niño is a natural climate event causing abnormally warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, releasing large amounts of ocean heat into the atmosphere and temporarily raising global temperatures for about a year.
This phenomenon also increases the likelihood of extreme weather thousands of kilometers away, causing floods in Peru, droughts in Africa, and wildfires in Australia.
Scientists expect temperature records to continue being broken in coming months as El Niño intensifies and is predicted to peak around December, with 2026 and 2027 potentially becoming the hottest years ever recorded.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist from Imperial College London, said climate change is making each El Niño event hotter, and as long as humans keep burning coal, oil, and natural gas, record-breaking hot months will continue.
Copernicus stated that August also closed out the hottest summer ever recorded in Western Europe, breaking the previous record set in 2003.
June through August featured continuous severe heatwaves, causing school closures, reduced water levels in many rivers, and widespread droughts that increased the risk of severe wildfires.
Data from EuroMomo, which tracks deaths in Europe, estimates that between mid-July and mid-August, Europe saw about 32,000 more deaths than usual. Meanwhile, scientists from the World Weather Attribution network concluded that the severe June heatwave would have been nearly impossible without climate change.
The impact of extreme heat was not limited to Europe. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that 48 contiguous US states experienced their hottest summer on record. Copernicus data analysis by AFP also found that around 900 million people globally faced the hottest July ever recorded.
Burgess said the past summer was extraordinarily abnormal not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world where nearly century-old temperature records were broken. She warned that global climate conditions will worsen if humanity does not seriously reduce and end greenhouse gas emissions.
August's average temperature was about 1.65 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold set internationally to avoid the most severe climate change impacts. However, a single month above 1.5 degrees does not mean the world has permanently crossed this limit but signals that it is approaching this critical boundary more closely.
,AFP