Data from the European Commission’s climate monitor Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has revealed that 2024 is “virtually certain” to be the hottest on record, with warming above 1.5°C.

Just two weeks after the UN warned that current climate policies risk a catastrophic 3.1°C global temperature rise, the C3S has released new data revealing how the world is passing a “new milestone” of temperature records.

This year has seen our environment ravaged by extreme weather conditions, from flooding to droughts and wild fires to hurricanes. Scientists argue that these extreme weather events are made even more likely as the result of human-driven climate change.

Each month often surpasses temperatures for that month the year previous. For October 2024, CS3 data reveals that the month was 1.65°C above pre-industrial level – in other words, before the widespread burning of coal, oil and gas during the Industrial Revolution (1850-1900).

C3S bases its findings on billions of weather measurements...