“The first three weeks of July were the hottest 15-day period on record and the month is on track to be the hottest July ever recorded,” said a European service Copernicus (CS3) in a statement.

According to Copernicus, high temperatures are related to heat waves in North America, Asia and Europe, which, together with forest fires in countries like Canada and Greece, have had major impacts on people's health, the environment and the economy.

“The global average temperature temporarily exceeded the limit of 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial level during the first and third weeks of the month, he pointed out.

On July 6, the daily average global average surface air temperature surpassed the record set in August 2016, becoming the hottest day ever recorded, followed by the 5 and 7 of the same month.

Until this year, the hottest July was 2019.

“Record temperatures are part of the trend of drastic rises in global temperatures,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo.

Carlo Buontempo recalled that “the July record is unlikely to remain isolated this year”.

"Seasonal forecasts from C3S indicate that temperatures inland areas are likely to be well above average, exceeding the 80th percentile of climatology for the time of year," he added.

For his part, the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Petteri Taalas, noted that “the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever”.

"The extreme weather that affected many millions of people in July is, unfortunately, the harsh reality of climate change and a glimpse into the future," he said.

The WMO estimates at 98% the probability that at least one of the next five years will be the warmest on record and at 66% the probability of temporarily exceeding 1.5 ºC above the average verified in 1850-1900.

Last week, the chief climatologist of the North American space agency (NASA), Gavin Schmidt, had also said that July was about to break the record for the hottest month ever recorded, not only since there are records, but also in "hundreds, if not thousands of years".

Schmidt said that the situation is not only due to El Niño, the cyclical climate phenomenon that originates in the Pacific Ocean and leads to an increase in global temperatures, but because it continues “to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”.