UN predicts a 80% chance of breaching the 1.5-degree threshold temporarily by 2028.
Guterres referred to fresh findings from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the EU Earth Observation Programme Copernicus. The WMO stated that there's a 4 out of 5 chance that the set temperature target during the UN Climate Conference in Paris in 2015 - 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels - might be surpassed within the next 5 years. Guterres likened the human activity's impact on global warming to a "meteorite that brought the dinosaurs extinction."
As reported by Copernicus, the planet's average temperature in May was a whopping 1.52°C higher than the typical May temperature between 1850 and 1900. This marks the 11th consecutive month since July 2023 where the temperature has breached the pre-industrial era's 1.5°C mark.
In the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, nations decided to cap global warming below 2°C, preferably 1.5°C when compared to pre-industrial levels. This figure was calculated over a lengthy time frame. However, due to the steady increase in temperature, this aim is starting to seem impossible.
A research article published in the journal "Earth System Science Data" yesterday explained that the average temperature rise during the last decade, between 2014 and 2023, was 1.19°C compared to 1850-1900.
