For 13 consecutive months, global average air and ocean temperatures were probably the hottest they have been in human history.
This streak of extraordinary heat ended last month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported, as July 2024 was only the second hottest ever recorded – 0.04°C cooler than a record set the previous July.
In its wake are thousands of heat-related deaths, ailing ecosystems and a planet firmly on the precipice of a profoundly altered climate.
