AUGUST JOINT-HOTTEST MONTH ON RECORD AT 1.65C ABOVE BASELINE

August 2026 was joint-hottest month ever recorded globally, tying with July 2023, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Global temperatures reached 1.65C above preindustrial levels, surpassing the 1.5C threshold agreed by countries to limit warming. Sea surface temperatures also reached their highest levels on record for August. The record was recorded even as the El Niño weather system was still strengthening, with full intensity forecast towards the end of the year.

The combination of climate change and rising El Niño influence drove the temperatures upward. El Niño is a naturally recurrent phenomenon whereby wind changes over the Pacific lead to rising ocean temperatures and the transfer of heat to the atmosphere. The current El Niño is forecast to become one of the most powerful on record and is expected to have its greatest impact on global temperatures over the coming year. Western Europe experienced its warmest summer on record, with the UK recording its hottest summer since records began in 1884.

Scientists and UN officials attributed the extreme heat to fossil fuel burning. Professor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London stated that "the underlying driver remains our relentless burning of fossil fuels" and that "until we stop burning coal, oil and gas, these record-shattering months will simply keep on coming." Simon Stiell, UN climate chief, said the economic and social damage from the summer's extreme heat was still being counted, including impacts on transport, health systems and food prices. The impacts included devastating wildfires, harvest damage, excess deaths from heatwaves and business disruptions across many countries.