EU to release July climate change data | Photo: EU

The EU’s Copernicus Program is due to release climate data for July today.

Copernicus—the EU’s earth observation satellite program—monitors global climate data and tracks the effects of climate change on the earth’s weather. Today’s data is expected to confirm that this July was the hottest month ever recorded. 

Much of the northern hemisphere saw record-breaking heatwaves last month. Europe experienced temperatures beyond 40 degrees Celsius, in some cases for the first time, and devastating wildfires across parts of Greece. Meanwhile, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo experienced record-breaking heatwaves, followed by the heaviest rainfall in over a century and deadly floods.

This year’s record-breaking weather events will likely add urgency to the UN’s upcoming Climate Ambition Summit on September 20. The summit will be hosted by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will urge the world’s major economies to introduce more ambitious targets for reducing emissions. 

While many Western countries are expected to add new pledges to speed up their transition to renewable energy sources, other major emitters including Russia will likely not agree to any reduction in fossil fuel usage. Still, the two major emitters—the U.S. and China—will likely attempt to announce cooperation on this matter, despite recent animosities.