Last month was the hottest June on record in the UK, the country's national weather service has announced, warning that human-induced climate change was making such temperature records increasingly likely.

Record heatwaves have become a global phenomenon, with scientists warning that efforts to halt a rise in temperatures are failing to reach the level needed to avert the most catastrophic effects of global warming.

Britain's Met Office said the average mean temperature of 15.8C in June was the highest among all its records going back almost 140 years, beating previous top figures of 14.9 degrees Celsius in 1940 and 1976.

"All the numbers are suggesting that we're going in the wrong direction when it comes to the heat, the intensity of the heat and how prolonged it is," the Met Office's meteorologist Clare Nasir said.

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Last year, Britain reported its hottest ever day when temperatures topped the 40 Celsius mark for the first time, causing disruption to infrastructure like airports and railways, and sparking wildfires.

The Met Office said the latest record showed the "fingerprint of climate change", adding that a study by its scientists had found the chance of June being hotter than 14.9C had at least doubled since around 1940.

"Alongside natural variability, the background warming of the Earth’s atmosphere due to human-induced climate change has driven up the possibility of reaching record high temperatures," said Paul Davies, Met Office Climate Extremes Principal Fellow and Chief Meteorologist.

Last week, Spain recorded temperatures of up to 44C as the world's biggest economies, China and the U.S., experienced a series of heatwaves in June.

Earlier in the month, British water supplier South East Water had to introduce a temporary ban on hosepipes and sprinklers in the English regions of Kent and Sussex amid high temperatures and rising demand for drinking water.

The Met Office also said a marine heatwave affecting the North Atlantic was one of the reasons for higher land temperatures in Britain, adding that rainfall during June had been 68 percent of its average level.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's climate policies are currently under scrutiny following the angry resignation of his international environment minister and a critical report from the country's climate advisers.

Sunak claims that his government is a world leader on emissions reduction, is introducing its environment improvement plan, and his party played an important role in brokering a landmark global climate deal in 2021.

However, Greenpeace said the Met Office report showed the need for radical action.

"We can't tackle this huge threat without a massive government effort to fix our energy-wasting homes, turbocharge renewables, upgrade our power grid and clean up our transport sector," said Mel Evans, Greenpeace UK's head of climate.

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