This month’s record, and the longer recent period of warmth, are driven by a collection of several man-made* and natural factors acting together.
anthropogenic global warming
El niño/ la niña
Solar cycles
volcanic eruption of Hunga-Tonga
cleaner marine fuels
Firstly, man-made* global warming has been raising the Earth’s temperature by about 0.19 °C/decade (0.34 °F/decade). This is a direct consequence of the accumulation of additional greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide. This is the primary factor responsible for long-term warming.
(Probably you know this already, but I liked especially the other factors, as there is often talk about them, but seldom these factors are compared...)