The last eight years have been the eight hottest years ever recorded, with 2022 being the fifth hottest year globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union.
The ranking shows that the planet continues its long-term warming trend in response to increasing amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
Each of the last 8 years had global average temperatures more than 1°C above pre-industrial levels. As a result, the world is approaching the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Climate Agreement. The limit proposed by the agreement is based on recent studies showing that the chances of potentially catastrophic climate impacts increase significantly if warming exceeds 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels.
The climatic condition known as La Niña, which has been present in the Pacific Ocean for the third consecutive year, helped to slightly reduce global average surface temperatures, preventing 2022 from being among the three hottest years in history.
However, there are signs that the effects of La Niña may diminish soon and potentially give way to another climatic event called El Niño in 2023. The effects of El Niño are opposite to those of La Niña, meaning there is a chance of a year with new record temperatures.
The global average temperatures in 2022 were 0.3°C (0.54°F) above the 1991-2020 baseline, and the year was the second hottest on record in Europe, behind only 2020.
Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, highlighted by historic high temperatures in several countries, including the United Kingdom.
The areas that had the hottest year on record include large parts of Western Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and China, northwest Africa, and the Horn of Africa, among others, the study pointed out.
Extreme heat also hit Pakistan and northern India during the spring, before devastating rains struck the region in late summer. Central and eastern China recorded record heat and drought conditions for an extended period during the summer.