Europe had hottest summer on record last year 

A forest fire near the village of Pefki on Evia island, Greece's second largest island, last August. Picture: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images

Europe saw its hottest summer on record last year, while rainfall also broke previously recorded levels, as greenhouse gases from carbon dioxide, and methane in particular, continued to rise throughout the year.

Those are just some of the findings from the European Commission-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service, which analyses data "using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world".