2025-2029 likely to break heat records, warns WMO report

There is an 80% chance that a year between 2025 and 2029 will be warmer than 2024, a new World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) report has warned — a forecast that shouldn't exactly be news because the past 11 years are the 11 warmest on record since records begin in 1880.

- Jayashree Nandi

NEW DELHI: Last year was the warmest on record, and before it, 2023.

The report "WMO Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update (2025-2029)" has also projected that there is a 70% chance that the five-year average warming for 2025-2029 will surpass 1.5 degrees C leading to frequent and severe heatwaves, droughts, and extreme weather events.

This is up from the 47% probability flagged in last year's WMO report for 2024-2028 and 32% in the 2023 report for 2023-2027. The threshold is important because it is one of the goals of the Paris agreement.

The WMO report emphasised the need for continued climate monitoring to inform decision-making and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.