EU Climate Researchers Say 2023 Will Be The Hottest Year In 125,000 Years

Researchers from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service have sounded an alarm about this year being “virtually certain” to be the hottest in 125,000 years.

The service’s records go back to only 1940 but the researchers said they had used modelling data from the International Panel on Climate Change to reach the 125,000-year conclusion.

"When we combine our data with the IPCC, then we can say that this is the warmest year for the last 125,000 years," said Deputy Director Samantha Burgess, as quoted by Reuters.

Per the Reuters report, the Copernicus Climate Change Service has estimated that average October temperatures were 0.4 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record, booked in 2019.

The culprits named for the warmer-than-usual October were carbon dioxide emissions from human activity and the emergence of El Nino, a phenomenon that normally leads to warmer years.

October was in fact the second month in a row to show a new record temperature rise, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

"September really, really surprised us. So after last month, it's hard to determine whether we're in a new climate state. But now records keep tumbling and they're surprising me less than they did a month ago," Burgess also said.

Reports about broken heat records have abounded this year, especially during the summer in Europe, when claims were made that higher temperatures have never been experienced despite historical data proving otherwise.

Wildfires, especially in Canada, were once again attributed to climate change despite several arrests made of suspected arsonists.

Meanwhile, the hypothesis that human activity is the single factor driving climate change is being increasingly challenged, most recently in a paper produced by the Norwegian statistical agency.

The authors of the paper wrote that “our analysis indicates that with the current level of knowledge, it seems impossible to determine how much of the temperature increase is due to emissions of CO2.”

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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