Global average temperatures in 2015 will be the warmest on record, the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said at a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
Michel Jarraud made the announcement when introducing the findings of a WMO report just days before international negotiations on climate change are set to begin in Paris.
Climate change has surpassed “symbolic thresholds”, the WMO report warns, with global surface temperatures set to breach a one degree Celsius rise from pre-industrial levels, reaching as high as 14.73 degrees Celsius.
The previous warmest year was 2014 and the past five years are shaping up to be the hottest ever five-year period.
Spurring the warming are the twin forces of human-induced climate change and a strong El Niño this year, the report said.
“This is of great concern. Whatever CO2 has been emitted in the atmosphere stays there for a very long time, for decades to centuries. So time is really not on our side,” said Jarraud.
The report raised concerns about whether it is still possible for the world to reach the two degrees Celsius climate change target.
“There’s urgency, because we have already one degree behind us and at the rate the emissions are increasing, there’s not much flexibility. But it is still possible to do it provided there’s a strong decision in Paris,” said Jarraud.
World leaders from 190 countries and regions will meet in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 with the goal of hammering out an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. (Reuters)
