World hits streak of record temperatures as UN warns of ‘climate hell’

BRUSSELS/GENEVA: Each of the past 12 months ranked as the warmest on record in year-on-year comparisons, the EU’s climate change monitoring service said on Wednesday, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent action to avert “climate hell”.

The average global temperature for the 12-month period to the end of May was 1.63 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average - making it the warmest such period since record-keeping began in 1940, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said.

This 12-month average does not mean that the world has yet surpassed the 1.5 C (2.7 F) global warming threshold, which describes a temperature average over decades, beyond which scientists warn of more extreme and irreversible impacts.

In a separate report, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said there is now an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will mark the first calendar year with an average temperature that temporarily exceeds 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - up from a 66% chance last year.

Speaking about the findings, UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized how quickly the world was heading in the wrong direction and away from stabilizing its climate system.

“In 2015, the chance of such a breach was near zero,” Guterres said in a speech marking World Environment Day.

With time running out to reverse course, Guterres urged a 30% cut in global fossil fuel production and use by 2030.

“We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” he said, adding: “The battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s.”

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels - the main cause of climate change - hit a record high last year despite global agreements designed to curb their release and a rapid expansion in renewable energy.

Coal, oil and gas still provide more than three quarters of the world’s energy, with global oil demand remaining strong.