Last year was the hottest in history across Europe as temperature records were shattered by several extreme heatwaves, the European Union's satellite monitoring surface said. In its annual report on the state of the climate, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said that 11 of the continent's 12 warmest years on record have been since 2000 as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
The last four years were the hottest since global temperature records began, the UN confirmed on Wednesday in an analysis that it said was a clear sign of continuing long-term climate change. The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in November that 2018 was set to be the fourth warmest year in recorded history, stressing the urgent need for action to rein in runaway planetary warming.