Hottest year on record almost certain to occur by end of 2030, UN warns

Warning comes as Europe" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="18280" data-entity-type="location">Western Europe experiences a heatwave, with temperatures reaching highs not typically expected until the summer.The hottest year since records began is almost certain to occur within the next five years, according to the weather agency of the United Nations.In a report published on Thursday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned there is an 86 percent chance that one of the next five years will surpass 2024 as the warmest on record.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Europe named ‘fastest-warming continent’ in latest Climate Change reportlist 2 of 3‘Encouraging’: Global rainforest loss slows in 2025 after record yearlist 3 of 3‘A calamity’: Why is a record heatwave sweeping South Asia?end of listThe WMO also said there is a 75 percent chance that the five-year average temperature between 2026 and 2030 will exceed 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, a threshold scientists warn could lead to more extreme weather conditions, including heatwaves and storms.Under the Paris Agreement, which came into effect in November 2016, almost 200 countries agreed to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.Scientists and environmentalists have long warned that the target, which aims to avoid the worst effects of Climate Change, is increasingly unlikely to be met. The goal is calculated over a 20-year period, meaning temporary breaches in a single year do not make the target of 1.5C unattainable.The report also warns that temperatures in the Arctic — the second coldest region on Earth — are predicted to be 2.8C (5F) above the 1991–2020 average over the next five winters. If the estimate proves correct, it would mean the region is warming more than three and a half times faster than the global average.Michael Jacobs, professor of political economy at the University of Sheffield, told Al Jazeera that countries need to work much harder to meet the targets set out in the Paris Agreement.