As climate change records are smashed, another oilman, Mukhtar Babayev, is appointed to chair the international COP29 talks – Dr Richard Dixon

Last year was the world’s warmest year on record, while in Scotland, the difference between the coldest and warmest years on record is 2.8C and winter rainfall has increased by a third

Globally 2023 was the warmest year ever recorded, likely 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times. Scientists tell us we must avoid going over a 1.5C temperature increase, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This is the first target in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Last year was also the warmest for Wales and Northern Ireland, the second warmest in England and, in Scotland, the third warmest after 2022 and 2014. This means that nine of the top ten warmest years in Scotland have been since 2000, with 1997 the only one earlier.