It is predicted that the world will soon experience another record-breaking period of heat, with a new report stating that it is highly likely that a single year will break the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit by 2028.
The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that due to failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero the world’s heat issues will get increasingly worse over the next half decade.
In 2015, the global community signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement, in which 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, was established as the limit of rising temperatures.
In 2018 a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change resulted in a special report from the United Nations, in which scientists warned that allowing temperatures to rise beyond this point could result in irreversible damage to global ecosystems, particularly in the arctic, coral and marine life, destruction, water shortages, famine and death.
What is driving temperatures at this time is an upcoming El Niño event expected to exacerbate already alarming global trends.
As a result, the WMO says there is a 98% chance that the years to come will be the hottest on record, and a 66% chance that at least one of those years will break the 1.5 degree threshold.
Much less likely, but still considerably concerning is the prediction of a 32% chance that average global temperatures could exceed the threshold over the next 5 years.
The present situation is said to be a result of decades of in-adequate action and inaction by countries and industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.