PARIS — This year is "virtually certain" to be the hottest in recorded history, with warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius, the European Union's climate monitor Copernicus said on Thursday, days before nations are due to gather for crunch United Nations climate talks.
The European agency said the world was passing a "new milestone" of temperature records that should serve to accelerate action to cut planet-heating emissions at the UN negotiations in Azerbaijan next week.
