Last Monday, July 3, 2023, the planet reached its highest-ever recorded temperature at 17.01 degrees C (62.62 degrees F). On Tuesday, it climbed even higher. Then on Wednesday, it peaked at 17.18 degrees C (62.92 degrees F). This record heat may be a bellwether of what’s to come. Released earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, the most comprehensive climate science to date, finds that Earth is on track to breach
dangerous temperature thresholds in the early 2030s, bringing increasingly severe heatwaves, water and food shortages, floods and more. WRI breaks down what the latest science says about future impacts of climate change. Read more.