Two major climate heating records broken, UN and Met Office announce

July is set to be the hottest ever recorded globally, while 2022 was the UK's warmest year on record, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization and the UK's Met Office.

Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, said: “Today, the World Meteorological Organization and the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service are releasing official data that confirms that July 2023 is set to be the hottest month ever recorded in human history.

“We don’t have to wait for the end of the month to know this. Short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board.”

In a series of warnings, the secretary-general added: “It is unequivocal – humans are to blame… 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.”

He laid blame for the heating at the doorstep of the fossil fuel industry by saying “the air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable”.

The UK’s Met Office warned that, despite the extreme heat, 2022 will be considered a ‘cool’ year by 2100 if global heating continues on current trajectories.

Mike Kendon from the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, said: “In terms of weather and climate, 2022 was an extraordinary year for the UK. It was the warmest year for the UK in our long-running record national series back to 1884.”

The Met Office also released details of recent extreme climate and weather-related events and rising sea levels.