The Hill’s Energy & Environment Blog
August 6, 2013
By Zack Colman
Last year was one of the 10 hottest on record for the planet, according to a new federal report that could provide new fuel for President Obama’s climate change push.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-led study said 2012 was either the eighth or ninth hottest on record globally, depending on the data set used. Temperatures in the United States specifically were the warmest on record.
“Many of the events that made 2012 such an interesting year are part of the long-term trends we see in a changing and varying climate-carbon levels are climbing, sea levels are rising, Arctic sea ice is melting, and our planet as a whole is becoming a warmer place,” acting administrator Kathryn D. Sullivan said in a statement.