‘Era of global boiling has arrived’, says UN chief as July sets record as world’s hottest month ever

After experts confirmed that July was on course to be the world’s hottest month on record, UN Secretary General António Guterres declared that the era of global warming was over and that “the era of global boiling has arrived.”

Guterres’ remarks were prompted after scientists confirmed on Thursday that the previous three weeks were the hottest on record, and July is on course to be the hottest month ever recorded.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation program, the burning of fossil fuels has increased global temperatures this month, shattering previous records.

Weather extremes have gotten harsher as a result of the constant increase in global average temperatures brought on by pollution, which traps sunlight and causes the Earth to operate like a greenhouse.

“Humanity is in the hot seat,” Guterres stated to a press conference on Thursday. “For vast parts of North America, Asia, Africa and Europe, it is a cruel summer. For the entire planet, it is a disaster. And for scientists, it is unequivocal – humans are to blame.

“All this is entirely consistent with predictions and repeated warnings. The only surprise is the speed of the change. Climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”

The results were supported by other climate scientists. The planet was 1.5C (2.7F) hotter in July 2023 than it was in the typical July before industrialization, according to Karsten Haustein of Leipzig University.

He claimed that this month’s temperatures had been “so outrageous” that experts had already predicted it would be the highest on record.

Haustein calculated the probability of a 0.2C increase in global temperature in July 2023 based on data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the US NGO Berkeley Earth, calculated that the record will be broken by closer to 0.3C using technologies developed by Japanese and European meteorologists.

According to a quick analysis from the World Weather Attribution network released on Tuesday, greenhouse gas pollution has increased the temperatures of lethal heatwaves on three continents this month.

The study concluded that people contributed to the heatwaves in southern Europe, North America, and China by making them 2.5°C, 2°C, and 1°C hotter, respectively. However, the work has not yet undergone peer review.

The first two, according to the scientists, would have been “virtually impossible” if human activity had not altered the climate.

Because El Nio, a natural pattern of wind and water that heats the globe, is returning after three years of its cooler counterpart, La Nia, scientists anticipate this year to be hotter than usual.

Due to this factor and greenhouse gas pollution, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has predicted that there is a 2 in 3 possibility that one of the next five years will be 1.5C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution, which is the temperature at which world leaders committed to attempting to stop global warming by the end of the century.

The WMO cautioned that although this was a 20-year average and not a single month or year, it did not necessarily indicate the objective would be missed.