‘Time is running out’: Planet on course to hit a critical temperature limit soon

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• That 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level is the lower target of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.
  
• The climate accord is widely recognized as critically important to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.
  
• In 2020 — one of the three hottest years on record — the global average temperature was 1.2 °C above the pre-industrial baseline.
  

The likelihood of the planet reaching a key temperature limit within the next five years has doubled, according to a study by climate scientists, with the world on track to witness the hottest year on record in that same time frame.

“There is about a 40% chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5° Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial level in at least one of the next five years — and these odds are increasing with time,” the World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday. The WMO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, said this had doubled from 20% in the last decade.

That 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level is the lower target of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. The climate accord is widely recognized as critically important to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.


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