CNN —The planet just marked a “shocking” new milestone, enduring 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat, according to new data from Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service. Unless planet-warming fossil fuel pollution is slashed, “this string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold,” he said. “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.”As temperatures surge, global climate commitments are “hanging by a thread,” he warned. The average global temperature over the past 12 months was 1.63 degrees above these pre-industrial levels. But unprecedented heat has already left a trail of death and destruction across the planet this spring.

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Persons: Copernicus, Carlo Buontempo, General António Guterres, Guterres, ”, Richard Allan, Ben Clarke, Raj K Raj, Diego Vara, ” Gutteres, ” Guterres, El Niño, Buontempo Organizations: CNN, United Nations, University of Reading, United Arab, Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, Hindustan Times, Reuters, El, World Meteorological Organization, WMO Locations: New York, Russian, Paris, India, Asia, Mexico, United States, Brazil, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, New Delhi, Cavalhada, Porto Alegre