World on track to surpass critical climate threshold within next decade.

The World Meteorological Organization warns that the world is on track to breach a key climate threshold for the first time within the next five years due to heat-trapping pollution and a looming El Niño. There is a 66% chance that the planet’s temperature will climb above 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels for at least one year between 2023 and 2027. Breaching the 1.5-degree threshold may only be temporary, but it would be the clearest signal yet of how quickly climate change is accelerating. Countries pledged in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees, and preferably to 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial temperatures.