An extraordinary run of record heat could usher in a long, hot summer — ‘and not in a good way’

Scientists on Tuesday confirmed that last month was the hottest March on record, extending an extraordinary run of global heat that has renewed calls for an urgent reduction in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said March was the 10th month in a row when temperatures have been hotter than ever for the respective time of year. The record-breaking run stretches back to June last year.

The EU's climate monitor said March was 1.68 degrees Celsius (3.02 Fahrenheit) hotter than an average March between the pre-industrial reference period of 1850 to 1900. March was 0.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous high logged in March 2016.

"March 2024 continues the sequence of climate records toppling for both air temperature and ocean surface temperatures, with the 10th consecutive record-breaking month," Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S, said in a statement.

"The global average temperature is the highest on record, with the past 12 months being 1.58°C above pre-industrial levels. Stopping further warming requires rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," she added.

Extreme heat is made much more likely by the climate crisis, the chief driver of which is the burning of fossil fuels.

Chloe Brimicombe, a climate researcher at Austria's University of Graz, told CNBC that yet another month of record-breaking global heat was due to human-caused climate change.

"We've seen extreme heatwaves and storms and flooding in the Southern Hemisphere again this year. Our global cocoa prices have been impacted. We've also seen below average snowfall in Central Europe [and] we are on track for over half of our alpine glaciers in Europe to disappear by the end of the Century,"