FILE - Tony Berastegui Jr., right, and his sister Giselle Berastegui drink water, Monday, July 17, 2023, in Phoenix. A historic heat wave that turned the Southwest into a blast furnace throughout July is beginning to abate with the late arrival of the monsoon rains. Forecasters expect that by Monday, July 31, at the latest, people in metro Phoenix will begin seeing high temperatures under 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) for the first time in a month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
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Energy & Environment
Energy & Environment
The Big Story
EU scientists: 2023 ‘virtually certain’ to be warmest year on record
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that last month was the warmest October ever recorded, and the year itself is “virtually certain” to break the record as well.
The past month saw an average surface air temperature of 15.3 degrees Celsius, surpassing the past three decades’ average by 0.85 degrees and 2019’s record by 0.4 degrees.
The only month that broke temperature records by this wide a margin was this September, according to Copernicus. Copernicus maintains data reaching back to 1940.
“October 2023 has seen exceptional temperature anomalies, following on from four months of global temperature records being obliterated,” Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess said in a statement. “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43ºC above the preindustrial average. The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action going into COP28 has never been higher.”
If 2023 is indeed the warmest year recorded, it would edge out the current record-holder, 2016.
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
Several countries are expanding fossil fuel production despite pledges to have net-zero emissions, according to a new report from a United Nations environmental agency.
A group of 11 Democratic senators are pushing the Biden administration to approach hydrogen energy with leniency, breaking with colleagues who want strict climate rules for the nascent energy technology.
The Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing tomorrowto examine the implementation of federal coal mine land reclamation and abandoned coal mine land economic revitalization programs.
What We’re Reading
News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:
Louisiana’s new governor is one of the fossil fuel industry’s biggest defenders (Grist)
New Mexico’sdisplaced coal minershave gotten the shaft on severance pay (High Country News)
Key Senator ditches GOP climate bill after conservative pushback (Semafor)
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) says his state’s vote Tuesday to enshrine abortion rights “was a gut punch” for anti-abortion officials such as himself. Read more
