Some scientists would claim that global temperatures are now higher than they have been for at least 100,000 years.
As I say, global warming to within 0.02 deg C of 1.5 deg C. At the time of the Paris accord 2015 I wasn't the only person to say that the agreement to keep warming below 1.5 deg C was delusional, time seems to have proved this thesis.
What is particularly alarming about the 2023 figure it that it exceeds the last record year, 2016, by 0.3 deg C. That's a massive figure, in terms of increase in temperature from pre-industrial it represents exactly a 20% jump over seven years. And for much of the year, the El Niño was only just starting - scientist are trying to puzzle this out. The severity of the increase has taken them all by surprise. That may not apply to James Hansen, as he's been warning for some years that global warming is accelerating, and may be subject to positive feed back loops, sudden "tipping points" which we cannot be fully aware of. I see he's made a comment about this here
In a bulletin issued with two other climate researchers, Hansen states that “the 1.5C global warming ceiling has been passed for all practical purposes because the large planetary energy imbalance assures that global temperature is heading still higher”. Hansen has promoted a view, disputed by some other climate scientists, that the rate of global heating is accelerating due to a widening gap between the amount of energy being absorbed by the Earth from the sun and the amount returning to space.
Just to correct a figure - this last year was 0.17 deg C hotter than the previous record year of 2016, not the 0.3 deg I claimed. Still la huge jump of 10% in temperature increase terms and hugely surprising to scientists.