Britain could experience its hottest year ever in 2022, its national weather service said on Wednesday.
Global temperatures will only stop rising if countries reduce their emissions to “net zero” – meaning they do not release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than they remove.
The 27-nation European Union, Britain, Canada, Japan and others have pledged to reach that goal by 2050, with China and India aiming to achieve it later.
Despite those long-term pledges, global emissions have continued to rise. C3S said the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2022 will average about 417 ppm – the highest level in more than 2 million years.
Other parts of the world faced a year of climate devastation, as global warming hit the world’s poor and vulnerable populations hardest. Flooding killed at least 1,700 people in Pakistan, while drought decimated livestock populations in Somalia.