The EU’s Earth observation programme, Copernicus, announced on Monday that this year’s November was the hottest ever recorded. Climate researchers are calling on politicians to do more in the fight against climate change.

The hottest November ever

November 2020 was the hottest November ever on record, announced Copernicus, the EU’s Earth observation programme on Monday. According to their findings, November 2020 was 0,8 degrees warmer than the 30-year average from 1981 to 2010. It was also around 0,1 degrees hotter than the previous record November in 2016.

This record month of November comes just after another record month: September, also the hottest September since records began. “These records are in line with the long-term warming trend of the global climate,” said Carlo Buontempo, head of Research on Climate Change at Copernicus.

The effect of climate change

Recently, climate researchers described the immediate effects of hotter weather on Germany in “The Lancet” medical journal. Their study shows that Germany is already suffering from an increasing number of “heat deaths” due to its ageing population and hotter temperatures. By their calculations, around 20.200 people over the age of 65 died as a result of heat-related problems in Germany in 2018, the third-highest in the world behind China and India.

Buontempo has called on politicians to adhere to the 2015 Paris Agreement, a series of commitments aimed at limiting global warming to below two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era. "All policymakers should view these records as alarm bells and think more seriously than ever about how best to meet the international commitments set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement," Buontempo warned.