NEW DELHI: The world experienced the warmest March ever due to a combined effect of El Nino and human-caused climate change, making it the 10th consecutive month since June last year to set a new temperature record, the European Union’s climate agency said on Tuesday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said the average temperature of 14.14 degrees Celsius in March was 1.68 degrees Celsius higher than the month’s average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period. It is 0.73 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average for March and 0.10 degrees Celsius above the previous high set in March 2016.

“The global average temperature for the past 12 months (April 2023-March 2024) is the highest recorded, at 0.70 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average and 1.58 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average,” the climate agency said.

C3S said the global average temperature breached the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold for an entire year for the first time in January.

Earth’s global surface temperature has already increased by around 1.15 degrees Celsius compared to the average in 1850-1900, a level that hasn’t been witnessed since 1,25,000 years ago, before the most recent ice age. This is considered the reason behind record droughts, wildfires and floods worldwide.