
Each of the past 12 months has ranked as the planet's hottest on record, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said, and there is now an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will be the first in which the average temperature on the planet temporarily exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius for a full year.
It's also very likely that one of the next five years will beat 2023 as the world's hottest year on record. The extraordinary heat pushed the average global temperature over the past 12 months to the highest level since records began, at 1.63 degrees Celsius around pre-industrial times.
Most governments have pledged to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but few are doing so at the speed scientists say is needed to avoid the worst climate change. Global energy-related CO2 emissions rose last year to a record high.
In the past year, temperatures have also been boosted by El Nino, which warms surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Countries agreed at the United Nations climate talks in Paris in 2015 to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and aim to limit it to 1.5C, a level seen as crucial to preventing much more extreme weather and severe impacts of climate change.
The world has currently warmed about 1.2 degrees Celsius over the long-term average. The Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Ko Barrett, said the latest data showed the world was "a long way off track" to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.