Global average temperatures in early June were the hottest ever recorded for this period by Europe’s Copernicus space, breaking previous records by a “significant margin”, a statement said today.

“The start of June was the warmest on record, following May which was just 0.1 degrees Celsius cooler than the record,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the European Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement. C3S).

“The average air and surface temperatures of the planet for the first few days of June were the warmest on record for early June from ERAS data, and by a significant margin,” reports Copernicus, some of whose data date back to 1950.

These measurements were made while the meteorological phenomenon El Niño, which is generally associated with an increase in global temperatures, has officially begun, Copernicus reminds. The latter had also recently announced that the surface of the oceans experienced the warmest May ever recorded.

Copernicus also points out that as of early June, global temperatures exceeded pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most ambitious limit on warming set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. It is the first time this limit was exceeded in June, but it had already been exceeded repeatedly in recent years in winter and spring.

“Every fraction of a degree counts to avoid even more serious consequences of the climate crisis,” emphasized Samantha Burgess.

The European Copernicus agency is based in Bonn, the same place where international climate negotiations are currently taking place under the auspices of the UN, ahead of the big COP28 due to be held at the end of the year in Dubai.