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Global temperatures are forecast to reach record or near-record levels during the next five years, setting the stage for more deadly extreme weather, according to an annual report from two of the world's top meteorological agencies.
There is now a 70% chance that global warming over the next five years will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, Wednesday's report from the World Meteorological Organization and UK Met Office found.
More than 1.5 degrees of global warming increases the risks of more severe impacts, including triggering tipping points in the climate system. Melting sea ice and glaciers could soon reach a point of no return, with dramatic implications for sea level rise, scientists have warned.
There is an 80% chance that at least one year in the next five will be the warmest on record, the report suggests. It also for the first time raises the possibility, albeit remote, that one of those years will have an average temperature that is at least 2 degrees warmer than the era before humans began burning large amounts of planet-heating fossil fuels.
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📸: Lisi Niesner/Reuters/File
