Topline2023 will be the hottest year on record, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said during the opening of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, confirming an earlier warning by EU scientists and delivering a potent warning about the speed of climate change.

This year will be both earth’s warmest year on record and the conclusion of the warmest nine-year period on record, the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) projected Thursday. The past year has already set a number of temperature records,

The United Nations weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt and heat waves in the future.

This year is set to be the hottest ever recorded, the UN has said, demanding urgent action to rein in global warming and stem the havoc following in its wake.