2023 hottest year on record as Earth nears critical 1.5C limit

2023 was the hottest year on record, with Earth's surface nearly breaching the critical limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius above late 19th century temperatures, says the EU climate monitoring service. The Copernicus findings come one month after a climate agreement was reached at COP28 in Dubai calling for the gradual transition away from fossil fuels, the main cause of climate warming.