The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday that 2022 was the fifth or sixth warmest year on record, adding to deep concerns that the likelihood of breaching the 1.5 degree Celsius limit of the Paris Agreement “is increasing with time”.
In an alert, the agency also explained that 2022 was the eighth consecutive year that global temperatures rose at least 1C above pre-industrial levels, fuelled by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations and accumulated heat.
The cooling effect of the La Niña phenomenon – now in its third year – prevented 2022 from being the warmest ever.
“This cooling impact will be short-lived and will not reverse the long-term warming trend caused by record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere,” the WMO warned, adding that there is a 60 per cent chance that La Niña will continue until March 2023, followed by “ENSO-neutral” conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña).