2015 breaks all heat records
Globally, 2015 was the hottest year on record. This has consequences.
Never before has a year been recorded as hot as the past one: according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the average global surface temperature was 0.76°C above the long-term average from 1961 to 1990 and about 1°C hotter than during the pre-industrial period.
This means that 2015 beats the previous record year - which was also not long ago: It was the year 2014.
Record temperatures were accompanied by severe weather events: Heat waves, floods and severe drought.
The development worries the WMO: "It is a sobering moment in human history," says WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas. He appeals to countries to absolutely keep the emission reduction commitments made at the Paris climate conference, because "that's the only way we have any chance of staying within the 2°C target," Taalas says.
But even then, he sees the outlook as bleak: "Climate change will have increasingly negative effects over at least the next five decades. That means we need to invest not only in mitigation, but also in adaptation. Countries need to be strengthened in their ability to issue early disaster warnings to minimize human and economic losses. Climate change increases the risk of weather-related disasters - and this is a barrier to sustainable development."
