World not winning battle against climate change: Australian chief scientist

Australia's chief scientist has warned the planet is losing the battle against climate change after February set a "completely unprecedented" record for the hottest month since global records began.

Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC's) Q&A program late Monday that it was probably too early to suggest there was a climate emergency, but "there is genuine reason for concern".

Earlier Monday a NASA climate report revealed temperatures were the warmest in more than a century of record keeping, while the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have risen to unprecedented levels following the largest annual increase in 50-years of record keeping last year.

"For all the effort we are putting into trying to avoid increases of emission, we are losing," Finkel told the audience.

"What we are doing with solar, wind, changing practices, behavioural practices and things like that, we're not winning the battle."

The absolute hottest month in the world was July 2015, however July and August tend to be four degrees Celsius hotter than January and February due to the Northern Hemisphere's large land mass cooling the planet during the northern winter.