This highlights the urgent need for intensified climate action.  

According to projections from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the average global temperature in 2024 was estimated to be between 1.34°C and 1.41°C higher than pre-industrial levels.

The agency now forecasts that the 20-year average warming from 2015 to 2034 will reach approximately 1.44°C above pre-industrial levels.  

Alarmingly, the report states that there is an 86% chance that global temperatures will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years. There is also a one per cent chance that one of these years could surpass the 2°C threshold, a scenario that would have severe environmental consequences.  

The WMO stressed that the 1.5°C target under the Paris Agreement refers to long-term averages over two decades, meaning that it has not yet been breached. However, short-term spikes in temperature are clear warning signs of a rapidly accelerating climate crisis.  

--UN/ChannelAfrica--