June 2014 hottest month since 1880

The average temperature for land and ocean surfaces around the world was 16.2 degrees Celsius.

The US government’s climate agency on Monday reported that this June’s global temperatures were the hottest since record keeping began in 1880.

It was also the 352nd consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average.

Record warmth was registered in Greenland, parts of northern South America, areas in eastern and central Africa and parts of southern and south-eastern Asia, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The average temperature for land and ocean surfaces around the world was 16.2 degrees Celsius, compared with the average of 15.5 degrees over the past century.

The report supported warnings by climate scientists that the world faces temperature increases of 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century, if no preventative action is taken.

The only way to avoid drastic rises in sea levels and lethal drought is to keep that increase to 2 degrees or less, they say.

Global average temperatures have already risen by 0.85 degrees since 1880.

To keep below the 2-degree-Celsius increase, the world would have to lower global greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide by 40 to 70 per cent compared with 2010 - and do it by 2050.