2023-2027 period likely to be hottest on record, says UN

The 2023-2027 period will be the hottest ever recorded on Earth, with “a probability of 98%”, warned Wednesday, May 17 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN agency. In question, the combined effect of greenhouse gases, caused by our consumption of fossil fuels, and the meteorological phenomenon El Niño, which cause temperatures to rise.

In addition, global temperatures are expected to soon exceed the most ambitious goal of the Paris climate agreement, warns the WMO. It estimates a 66% chance that the average annual global surface temperature will exceed pre-industrial levels by 1.5°C for at least one of the next five years. The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to keep global average temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels from 1850 to 1900, and if possible to 1.5°C above those same levels.

Data released on Wednesday “do not mean that we will permanently exceed the 1.5°C threshold of the Paris agreement, which refers to long-term warming over many years”, however, underlined the Secretary General of WMO, Petteri Taalas. The Finn, however, underlined the seriousness of the situation, insisting on the need to be prepared because “The repercussions on health, food security, water management and the environment will be considerable”.