Climate change in pictures: 2023 was a year of deadly weather, protest crackdowns and historic deals

Climate change has made 2023 a record-breaking year.

This year is almost certain to be the hottest on record, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. 

In November, Earth briefly crossed the 2C of global warming line for the first time. While temperatures have to be higher for a sustained period to breach the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5C officially, it is still a worrying milestone to have reached. 

And our changing climate is having devastating consequences for people around the world. 

This summer, extreme heat and dry weather in Europe saw hundreds of firefighters battle fires in Greece. On the island of Rhodes, one fire burned for days forcing holidaymakers and local people to flee. 

• How damaging were Greek wildfires? Experts explain how heatwave fanned the flames

In the end, the Greek wildfires were declared the largest ever seen in the EU, burning an area of around 190,200 hectares and releasing the same amount of CO2 as 500,000kg of coal.