Last month was the world's third-warmest August on record, while southwestern Europe endured its third major heatwave of the summer, fueling wildfires and highlighting the urgency of tackling climate change, the European Union's (EU) climate monitoring network said on Tuesday.

Southwest Europe wilted through a third summer heatwave, fires tore through Spain and Portugal, while many parts of Asia experienced above-average temperatures during a scorching month that neared record highs.

The world’s oceans, which help regulate Earth’s climate by absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere, were also close to record high temperatures for the month. Hotter seas are linked to worsening weather extremes.

 “With the world’s (oceans) also remaining unusually warm, these events underline not only the urgency of reducing emissions but also the critical need to adapt to more frequent and intense climate extremes,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Global temperatures have been stoked ever higher by humanity’s emissions of planet heating gases, largely from fossil fuels burned on a massive scale since the industrial revolution.

Copernicus takes these measurements using billions of satellite and weather readings, both on land and at sea, and their data extends back to 1940.

The average temperature globally for August was 1.29 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, marginally cooler than the monthly record set in 2023 and tied with 2024.

Such incremental rises may appear small, but scientists warn that is already destabilizing the climate and making storms, floods and other disasters fiercer and more frequent.

— xinhua ,  AFP