Record August temperatures confirmed: summer 2023 was the hottest summer in...

NASA Climate Change 2 years ago

Record August temperatures confirmed: summer 2023 was the hottest summer in NASA’s temperature record, by a large margin. 🥵This summer continues a long-term trend of rising temperatures caused by human activities. All three months of summer 2023 broke records. July 2023 was the hottest month ever in NASA’s GISTEMP record, and the hottest July. June 2023 was the hottest June, and August 2023 was the hottest August. 🌡️ NASA’s GISTEMP temperature record starts in 1880 and uses millions of measurements of surface temperature from weather stations, ships and ocean buoys, and Antarctic research stations. Other agencies and organizations who keep similar global temperature records find the same pattern of long-term warming. Earth is already feeling the effects of climate change, and the events of summer 2023 are a prime example. Wildfires scorched Canada in June, a heat dome settled over the American Southwest in July, and intense storms like Idalia lashed the U.S. in August. Video description: Two stacked data visualizations. Between them, white text reads “Summer 2023 Was the Hottest in NASA’s Record.” On top, a line graph with monthly temperature anomalies from each year from 1880 to 2023 grows across the graph to create a stacked bell shape. The Y-axis is labeled negative 3 degrees Celsius to 3 degrees Celsius and the X-axis has each month from January to December. As time goes on, the curved lines stack higher and higher, and the colors of the lines change from white and blue to dark red. Finally, the 2023 line stops at August, the latest month we have data, and it’s clear that June, July, & August 2023 were all hotter than any previous respective month. On the bottom, a map of the globe with temperature anomalies in Celsius. Anomalies up to 3 degrees higher than average are shown in red. Anomalies up to 3 degrees lower than average are shown in blue. The animation shows August temperature anomalies starting in 1880 through 2023. As the animation plays, various areas are red or blue. By the end, nearly everywhere on Earth is some shade of red except for some places in the Antarctic. #Earth #NASA #Climate #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Summer

layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 8 hours ago



The UK’s latest commitment to decarbonising the built environment marks a pivotal moment for sustainable construction. With £90 million allocated through the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition, ministers are reinforcing domestic manufacturing of renewable heating technologies that underpin low carbon building strategies. This initiative reflects the government’s drive to advance environmental sustainability in construction, steering the sector towards net zero whole life carbon performance benchmarks. By aligning production capacity with regulatory targets, the policy enhances both supply chain resilience and the carbon footprint reduction essential to achieving net zero carbon buildings across the nation.

The £420 million relief for energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement and glass adds industrial depth to the strategy. These sectors represent some of the highest embodied carbon contributors within material supply chains. Reducing their electricity costs incentivises investment in low embodied carbon materials and circular economy practices critical for sustainable building design. The provision of up to 90% discounts on network charges from 2026 will help accelerate lifecycle assessment adoption, enabling manufacturers to assess whole life carbon assessment more precisely across their products and infrastructure.

Growing momentum around regenerative and nature-based approaches reinforces broader environmental ambitions. The funding directed by Waitrose to promote nature-friendly livelihoods reveals how life cycle thinking in construction could mirror agricultural models of circular economy success. Sustainable material specification and end-of-life reuse in construction are increasingly aligned with this ecosystem logic, where eco-design for buildings prioritises renewable building materials and measurable reductions in embodied carbon in materials from design through demolition.

Grassroots forums such as Dorset COP add a vital regional dimension to decarbonising the built environment. Their emphasis on actionable climate frameworks resonates with the construction sector’s need for practical methods such as whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle performance evaluation using tools like BREEAM and its forthcoming BREEAM v7 standards. These systems help quantify the environmental impact of construction and embed sustainable building practices within local planning mechanisms, improving both energy-efficient buildings and sustainable urban development outcomes.

Across every layer of industry, from corporate governance to site operations, design thinkers are adopting circular construction strategies that merge carbon neutral construction with resource efficiency in construction. The intersection of whole life cost and sustainability increasingly defines quality in green construction, where eco-friendly construction solutions and green building products underscore design integrity and performance transparency. This new era of low carbon design is not aesthetic posturing but an operational shift toward verifiable decarbonisation and a built environment that authentically measures its sustainability footprint over its entire lifecycle.

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