This year is set to break a host of climate records and become the hottest ever measured, the United Nations said Thursday, demanding urgent action to rein in global warming.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization said 2023 was comfortably on course to smash global heat records, based on data until the end of October, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying the figures "should send shivers down the spines of world leaders" as the COP28 summit gets underway in Dubai.