The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the next five years could be the hottest period due to the effects of El Niño, a climate pattern that causes greenhouse gas emissions and abnormally warm surface waters in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. predicted.
The WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations whose mandate extends to weather, climate and water resources.
According to the WMO, between 2023 and 2027, there is a 98% chance that global temperatures will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius and be warmer than pre-industrial levels for at least one year.
The forecast was made by the United Nations Meteorological Agency in its latest annual climate update released Wednesday, May 17.
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above the average between 1850 and 1900, and 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible, according to the report. Rising temperatures are due to increased global pollution from the burning of fossil fuels and the predicted arrival of El Niño.
Global temperatures have risen sharply in recent years as the world continues to burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas that are warming the planet.
The eight hottest years on record were all between 2015 and 2022, but the WMO still projects temperatures to rise as climate change accelerates.
But WMO Secretary-General Péteri Taalas says the world will remain within Paris standards.
In 2015, countries including Nigeria pledged in the Paris Climate Agreement to keep global warming below 2°C, and preferably below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures. Scientists say a 1.5 degree increase in temperature is a critical tipping point beyond which the likelihood of extreme floods, droughts, wildfires and food shortages could rise dramatically, Taalas said. He is thinking.
