Last Seven Years Were The Hottest On Record, EU Climate Data Show

The past seven years were the hottest on record, with the fifth warmest in 2021, according to the annual findings released by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

A firefighter watches a fire in California. [+] Sullivan/Getty Images

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The director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said that the levels of carbon dioxide and methane are continuing to increase year on year and without signs of slowing down.

Methane is more potent than carbon dioxide even though it does not last as long in the atmosphere, as was shown by the press release announcing the findings.

Mauro Facchini, Head of Earth Observation at the Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space, European, said that the fifth warmest of the last seven years was found in 2021.

Europe had the hottest summer on record, one marked by a number of extreme weather events including a heatwave in the Mediterranean and deadly flooding in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond.

The C3S flagged large temperature anomalies in North America, including the devastating Dixie Fire, the second-largest wildfire in California history, which reduced air quality across the continent.

The temperature was 1.1-1.2 degrees Celsius. That is how much higher the average temperature was in 2021.

There is a structure called the Tangent.

Carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to climate change, and the continued rise in CO2 and methane rates is troubling. Methane traps heat at least 80 times as effectively as CO2 when it stays in the atmosphere for a short period of time. Methane could mean the difference between a rapidly warming planet changing too quickly and drastically for humanity to handle, and buying the planet some much-needed time to get a handle on the longer-term problem of fossil fuels and carbon pollution, according to an echo of warnings by scientists.

The key background.

Almost two months after the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Monday's findings come. The conference was seen as a last hope for global climate efforts. The UN Environment Programme said it was falling short after it ended in an agreement of compromise. The final text did not include the phrase "phase out" of coal power, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The past seven years have been the hottest on record.

The New York Times reported that the year was Earth's fifth-hottest.

Scientists say the past 7 years have been the hottest on record.

The reality of climate change was brought home by the weather disasters of 2021.

The climate deal that was struck at COP26 fell short.

It is time to freak out about methane emissions.