Average global temperatures are forecast to reach near-record levels in the next five years, with Arctic temperatures expected to warm faster than other regions, a report by the UN weather agency and the UK’s Met Office said on Thursday.
The annual report, which gives regional predictions for temperatures and rain, predicts that annual global mean near-surface temperatures will range between 1.3°C and 1.9°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.
“There’s very clear evidence that the climate is warming and that the global average temperature is continuing to rise,” Melissa Seabrook, a research scientist at the UK Met Office, told Reuters.
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, governments promised to try to prevent the average global temperature rise from exceeding 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, above which severe climate events were seen growing in intensity.